Yesterday afternoon marked a sad, violent day in our beloved Montreal. A lone gunman with delusions of “Taxi Driver” grandeur opened fire at Dawson College, a CEGEP with 10,000 students, killing one young woman, critically injuring 19 people and getting killed himself, in the end. The senseless work of some random sicko who probably thought the world owed him something.
The first thing I did was to call my sister, who is a student at Dawson. Fortunately, she had had only an early class and had gone home *just* before the shooting began. My friend Grimzo’s wife is also a student there and she unfortunately was on the same floor as the shooter. She was with other students in a classroom, which they immediately locked and waited for the police to show up as soon as they realized there was something horrendously wrong.
I for one, am very impressed with the way the police handled the situation. Within 3 minutes of the gunshots starting, they had control of the perimeter and had “neutralized” the shooter, no questions asked. I think that was the wisest course of action on their part. Although as Jonas remarks, it would have been good to get a statement from the guy himself, to have him account for himself, his actions in a way other than death, I am glad the police took no time to hesitate, safety comes first.
I was also impressed by the swift responses of the hospitals, the almost-instantaneous set up of dedicated hotlines, and the immediate support given from the Concordia University student union help services. It makes me proud to see Montrealers respond so quickly and with such positive support and action in a time like this. My thoughts go out to the victims (physical and psychological) of the Dawson shooting, it was a horrible, senseless thing to happen.
Related blog entries:
9/13
Fusillade, suite
The Backlash
Dawson College Shootings
Dawson
Montreal Shootings and Video Games
I would also like to say that the work that was done yesterday was exemplary.
I’m curious about the cafeteria selected and whether that might reflect a partial motive?
What is the Dawson cafeteria’s official name and what was its nickname?
J. Lindgren
The thing is, this guy was not even a student of Dawson, and I’m not sure if he ever was, really. It was very possibly not even familiar territory for him.
On the theory of “whom to blame?”, read this interesting blog entry from a gamer’s point of view.