Terror grips Ottawa: Gunman was flagged as ‘high risk’

Terror gripped the Canadian capital of Ottawa on Wednesday when a convert to Islam shot and killed a soldier guarding the National War Memorial before storming the packed Parliament building, where he was gunned down in a hail of police bullets.

The armed assault, which put Parliament and much of Ottawa on lockdown, came as Canada was already in a heightened state of alert over an attack just two days earlier, when another jihad convert intentionally ran down two Canadian Armed Forces soldiers with his car in Quebec, killing one of them.

Wednesday’s terror attack began when a black-clad man wearing a hoodie and a bandanna appeared at the memorial at 9:52 a.m. and opened fire on the soldier, who was carrying only an unloaded ceremonial rifle.

“All of a sudden, I just heard a shot, turned around and there was a guy with a rifle . . . and just pow, pow,” said a bystander, Raivo Nommick.

The soldier, Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, of Hamilton, Ontario, died despite first responders’ desperate attempts to save him.

The 24-year-old father was a member of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders regiment.

The shooter was identified as Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, 32, a drug-addled recent convert to Islam who had been on Canadian authorities’ radar. Sources told the Toronto Globe and Mail that he was designated a “high-risk traveler” and his passport had been seized, suggesting that authorities were wary that he might travel to join foreign jihadis like ISIS.

In other developments:

• Authorities released a photograph showing Zehaf-Bibeau posing with a pointed rifle on a since-deleted ISIS media account. They were trying to determine whether the gunman acted alone or was part of a terror plot.
• The NYPD beefed up patrols at the Consulate General of Canada in Midtown as a precaution.
• Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper spoke to his nation Wednesday night declaring, “Let there be no misunderstanding. We will not be intimidated. Canada will never be intimidated. In fact, this will lead us to strengthen our resolve . . . [and we will] redouble our efforts to work with our allies around the world and fight against the terrorist organizations who brutalize those in other countries.”
• President Obama said, “I expressed on behalf of the American people our condolences to the [slain soldier’s] family and to the Canadian people as a whole.. Obviously, we are all shaken . . . but we’re going to do everything we can to make sure that we’re standing side by side with Canada during this difficult time.”
• British Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted, “I’m appalled by today’s attack in Ottawa.”

After shooting Cirillo, Zehaf-Bibeau ran up the street toward Parliament Hill.

Dramatic video taken by a Globe and Mail reporter showed police warily searching for the shooter in the historic chamber before a loud rifle shot boomed out and then as many as 50 shots rang out in quick succession as cops returned fire.

Politicians and their staffers scrambled down scaffolding that was in place for renovations, while others hid inside barricaded meeting rooms as cops with high-powered rifles and body armor took up positions on the surrounding streets.

A security guard at the building was wounded in the fusillade but was expected to recover.

Canadian authorities said the intruder was taken down by 58-year-old Parliamentary Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers, a former Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer.

Zehaf-Bibeau had an extensive criminal record for drugs, assault, and weapons. His most serious crime resulted in a two-year sentence for a robbery.

The killer’s mother, Susan Bibeau, is a member of Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board, while his father, Bulgasem Zehaf, is a Quebec businessman who owns a cafe, the Globe and Mail said.

Neighbors said the shooter grew up living a privileged life in a quiet neighborhood where he attended a private high school.

He told a friend at a British Columbia mosque about three years ago that he was thinking of traveling to the Middle East said “the devil” was after him, the Globe and Mail reported.

The bloodshed came as Canada prepared to join the US-led bombing campaign against ISIS terrorists in Iraq.

The cutthroat jihadis have urged supporters to kill military personnel and civilians in Canada and other countries — even instructing them to use their cars as weapons, as was the case in the Quebec attack.

A witness to Wednesday’s attack said the gunman was dressed in a manner similar to the uniforms worn by ISIS fighters.

“I looked out the window and saw a shooter, a man dressed all in black with a kerchief over his nose and mouth, holding a rifle,” Tony Zobl told the Canadian Press. “The honor guard dropped to the ground, and the shooter kind of raised his arms in triumph holding the rifle.”

Cirillo didn’t stand a chance. Soldiers who guard the memorial are part of a ceremonial guard, and he his comrade were carrying unloaded rifles.

The bespectacled Vickers was hailed as a hero for stopping the attacker’s advance just feet away from the country’s top officials.

Vickers’s brother John told the CBC his sibling called their mom, Monica, in New Brunswick to tell her he was safe.

“I just couldn’t be prouder of him right now,” John said, adding that his brother, a 28-year veteran of the Mounties, has “always been committed to service, people and country” during his law-enforcement career.