Dawson College shooting

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View towards the Atwater and de Maisonneuve corner of Dawson College within 45 minutes of the shooting.

The Dawson College shooting occurred on September 13, 2006 at Dawson College, a CEGEP in Westmount near downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The perpetrator, Kimveer Gill, began shooting outside the de Maisonneuve Boulevard entrance to the school, and moved towards the atrium by the cafeteria on the main floor.^[1]^[2] One victim died at the scene, while another 19 were injured, eight of whom were listed in critical condition with six requiring surgery.^[3]^[4]^[5] The gunman later committed suicide by shooting himself in the head, after being shot in the arm by police.^[6]

Victims were treated at the Montreal General Hospital and other Montreal-area hospitals. It is the fourth fatal school shooting in Montreal, after the École Polytechnique massacre in 1989, the Valery Fabrikant shooting spree at Concordia University in 1992, and the murder at an immigration school in 1997.^[7]

1 Shooting
- 1.1 Weapons
2 Perpetrator and victims
- 2.1 Shooter
- 2.2 Victims
3 Response
4 See also
5 References
6 External links
- 6.1 News stories

[edit] Shooting

At 12:30 EDT, Gill parked his car on de Maisonneuve Boulevard (not Wood Avenue as indicated on the diagram) near the college and was seen removing weapons from his trunk by bystanders. Gill briefly held a passing lawyer hostage and forced him to carry a bag containing a fourth gun and additional ammunition. Gill opened fire at students outside on the steps of Dawson College at its rear entrance with a Beretta Cx4 Storm semi-automatic carbine, and the lawyer fled the melee and hid Gill's bag.^[8]

1. 12:30: Shooter exits car.
2. 12:41: First shots fired outside entrance.
3. 12:44: Nearby officers rush to the scene.
4. 12:42–12:48: Gunman fires on students in the cafeteria. Police shoot him in the arm, he kills himself with a shot to the head.
5. 13:30: Killer's body is dragged outside and covered.

Gill then entered the school and made his way to the cafeteria, almost directly ahead of the school entrance. He positioned himself in the corner of the building, near the microwave and set his bag on the floor. He loaded a hand pistol, fired a shot into the floor and then shot students Joel Kornek and Jessica Albert who were standing in front of him with his pistol. He then raised the automatic weapon and ordered the remaining students to drop to the floor. He continued shooting at apparently random targets until confronted by two police officers who happened to be visiting the school at the time regarding an unrelated incident, heard the gunfire, and rushed to the scene. Meanwhile, additional police officers surrounded the campus. Confronted by police in the school cafeteria, Gill briefly took two more people hostage.^[9] He was shot in the arm by police officer Denis Coté and then committed suicide via a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head by 12:48 EDT.^[6] The police officers attempted to resuscitate him, but failed. At 13:30 they dragged his body outside, covered it with a yellow bag, then continued the evacuation and the search for possible accomplices.^[10]^[11]

Police cordoned off the campus area with orange police tape and swept the school for students left inside.^[12] Local radio reports placed the number of police vehicles at approximately 80 and up to 24 ambulances surrounded the building.^[13] Students and faculty were evacuated from the campus or left the vicinity of the shooting.

Two shopping centres adjacent to Dawson, Place Alexis Nihon and Westmount Square, directly linked to the Atwater metro station, were evacuated and the green line of the Montreal Metro was shut down for several hours between Lionel-Groulx and McGill.^[14] The Pepsi Forum entertainment centre, which houses the anchor tenant AMC Theatres, opposite the eastern corner of Dawson, was open when many of the students came running into the premises to seek refuge moments after the shooting began. Shortly afterward, the Pepsi Forum went into lockdown under the directives of the Montreal Police. Eventually, one of the Forum's entrances onto St. Catherine Street re-opened under police/security guard to allow monitored access and egress.

A large number of the evacuees were also directed to the nearby Concordia University, where the Concordia Student Union and the Dawson Student Union were coordinating to assist anyone affected by the shooting.^[15] The two student unions^[16] used the Sir George Williams campus as a temporary shelter for the evacuated and offered counselling to traumatized students and staff.^[17] The police also established several phone numbers for parents and friends of the students.^[18]

Police reported that they needed a few days to process the crime scene. As a result, officials from Dawson College stated that the school would be closed until Monday, September 18, 2006,^[19] scheduled to open its doors at 11:00AM and remain open until 7:00PM and have an "Open House" feel to the day. Classes were scheduled to resume as usual on Tuesday, September 19, 2006.^[20]

[edit] Weapons

Gill was armed with a Beretta Cx4 Storm carbine, a Glock 9mm handgun, and a Norinco HP9-1 short barrelled shotgun. He had time to fire sixty shots, of which ten were outside the school. With the exception of five shots from his pistol, including the one to kill himself, all the shots came from the carbine.^[21] Nine of the bullets hit the deceased victim.^[22]

In addition to his three guns, there were reports of a fourth gun hidden in a bag that he forced a hostage to bring along as he arrived near the campus site. According to TVA's crime reporter Claude Poirier, Gill briefly held a lawyer hostage and demanded that he bring the bag containing the fourth gun and additional ammunition. When the first shots were fired and police arrived, the lawyer fled the scene and hid Gill's bag.^[23]

All of the weapons Gill had in his possession can be legally purchased and owned by a civilian in Canada. However, because of the Cx4 Storm's legal classification, specific criteria must be met for different configurations of the carbine. As manufactured by Beretta, the Cx4 Storm is a semi-automatic, pistol-calibre center-fire carbine with a 422mm barrel length. As such, it is categorized as "restricted" in Canada. Any person possessing a firearms licence (PAL) with restricted-class privileges may purchase this weapon, subject to the approval of the Chief Firearms Officer of the respective province.^[24] Kimveer Gill did in fact have a restricted-class firearms licence and his weapons were registered with the Canadian gun registry. Therefore, he owned the weapons legally under Canadian law.^[25]

[edit] Perpetrator and victims

[edit] Shooter

See also: Kimveer Gill

Kimveer Gill, with a Beretta Cx4 Storm pistol caliber carbine from his vampirefreaks.com profile.

Police initially looked for as many as three suspects, but Montreal Police Chief Yvan Delorme later confirmed that there was only one gunman, who was shot and killed at the scene.^[4] Many eyewitnesses described a man with a Mohawk hairstyle, wearing a black trenchcoat,^[26] black trousers with metal studs, and combat boots. The suspect carried three weapons, including a semi-automatic rifle.^[27] That evening, a Sûreté du Québec spokesperson confirmed to LCN TV reporters that the shooter was a 25 year-old male, born in Québec. Other sources state his birthplace as India.^[28] Police found his car, a black Pontiac Sunfire, parked close to the school, and later searched the house where he lived with his mother, removing a computer and other belongings.^[29]

Around midnight on Wednesday, police confirmed to the media that the suspect was Kimveer Gill, a 25 year-old Laval resident, a graduate from Rosemère Secondary School.^[30] An autopsy later revealed that Gill committed suicide after being hit in the arm by police officer Denis Coté's gunfire.^[31] The autopsy also revealed that the shooting was premeditated, as a short suicide note was then found on Gill's body.^[32]

The killer's profile was discovered at VampireFreaks.com under the screen name "fatality666"; the last login was at 10:35 on the day of the shooting.^[33] The profile was afterward first restricted to registered users and then removed entirely (screenshot of profile). The user's gallery (Mirror1 Mirror2) photos match student descriptions of the assailant, though he has no visible piercings as some reported. The user's vehicle also matches the police description of a Pontiac Sunfire. His rifle, seen in some photos, is described in a caption as a Cx4 Storm semiautomatic carbine. On the site, he stated (in no special context) "I regret nothing", and that he wished to die "Like Romeo and Juliet -or- In a hail of gunfire".^[34] Also stated were his dislikes for Republicans, God, "Fucking Religious people who think they know everything", Catholics, "All Priests", "Bible Thumpping Know-It-Alls", "Church Going Assholes", religion, and homophobes.^[35]

The French-language television network TVA reported that security cameras at Place Alexis-Nihon spotted Gill staking out the area as far back as August 10, more than a month before the shootings.^[36]^[37]

Online speculation as to the shooter's identity began literally minutes after news of the shootings became public.

[edit] Victims

Two days after the event, people bring flowers to the de Maisonneuve entrance, where the first shots had been fired.

The police confirmed the death of one victim, an 18 year-old woman who was shot in the abdomen and died at the scene.^[3] Canadian newspapers later identified the woman as Anastasia Rebecca de Sousa.^[38] The Montreal Police Service later reported that 19 other people had been wounded.^[4]

One victim, 22 year-old Leslie Markofsky, who was reportedly at Dawson College to visit friends, suffered two shots to the head. Markofsky underwent intensive surgery; the doctors removed one bullet, and one week after the shooting remained in a coma as doctors determine whether they should try to remove the second bullet.^[39] Leslie is now out of the coma (October 28th 2006), in excellent condition and is recovering at a special facility.

Another victim, Jessica Albert, was in a medically-induced coma as of September 21, 2006, having suffering from extensive damage to the abdomen. She is no longer in a coma, and was released and sent home. Her recent physical condition was monitored and she has healed perfectly.^[40]

[edit] Response

[edit] Students and faculty

Some student leaders criticized the immediate response of the Dawson College administration. The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that "if it hadn't been for help from the Student Union at nearby Concordia University... many of the Dawson students would have had no one to turn to for help."^[41]

Richard Filion, Dawson College's director general, announced that staff and faculty would return on Friday, September 15, and that classes would resume on Tuesday, September 19, 2006. The school invited all students to join them on Monday, September 18, 2006 to meet with staff and faculty for information and support, as well as to retrieve belongings that had been left behind. It has announced that grief counselling and support services would be available on an ongoing basis.

In addition, one of the victims, 22-year-old Hayder Kadhim, who received two bullet wounds in the head, has challenged Prime Minister Steven Harper to a gun control debate in a recent public speech on CBC in response to the shooting.

[edit] Politicians

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper stated the shootings were a "...cowardly and senseless act of violence..."^[42]^[43]
Interim Liberal Party leader Bill Graham and Member of Parliament (MP) Lucienne Robillard: "We must act as a country to show our compassion for those whose lives have been dramatically altered by this inexplicable event."^[43]
Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe: "It's tragic. We can never explain why these things happen. At the Polytechnique women were targeted. But here, we have no idea." Duceppe also suggested the need for a national gun registry.^[43]
New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton mentioned that it "was a grim reminder of previous school shootings" and that it hit particularly close to home for him;^[43] Layton was born and raised in a suburb of Montreal and attended McGill University, a short distance from Dawson College.
Quebec Premier Jean Charest stated "We are deeply saddened for the victims, the families, the parents of the children who study at Dawson."^[26]^[43]
Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay stated "This is so tragic. How do we talk to the parents who are going through this? All I can say is that I feel for them, and I care for them."^[27]

[edit] Video gaming community

Danny LeDonne, creator of Super Columbine Massacre RPG, has expressed his sorrow^[44] at the shootings, asks members of his web site to "... be aware of the sensitive nature of Montreal right now and of those who were affected by this shooting," and explains how his game is not designed to train shooters. LeDonne is reported to have vomited on hearing that Kimveer Gill was a fan of his game.^[45]
Ian Bogost of Water Cooler Games^[46] says "A tragedy like this saddens and disturbs us all... Gill was a disturbed man [...] he clearly needed help he did not get."

[edit] Jan Wong controversy

Main article: Jan Wong controversy

An immediate controversy arose about an article regarding the Dawson shootings by journalist Jan Wong, of the Toronto-based Globe and Mail. Three days after the event, Ms. Wong, who was born and raised in Montreal and is the daughter of Chinese immigrants, wrote a front-page piece titled Get under the desk, in which she drew a link between all three school shootings in Quebec history (the École Polytechnique, the Concordia University and the Dawson College killings) and the nature of the Quebec society and its protective language laws.^[47]

Wong suggested the fact that the three perpetrators were not old-stock French Quebecers (the shooters were Algerian, Belarusian, and Indian in descent) was related to their murderous actions, since, she claimed, they were alienated from a Quebec society concerned with "racial purity." Accused of "Quebec bashing," Wong's writing soon created public outcry in Quebec and political condemnation. The Premier of Quebec Jean Charest called the article a "disgrace", stating that it "betrays an ignorance of Canadian values and a profound misunderstanding of Québec".^[48] On September 20, 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper pronounced it "prejudiced, absurd, irresponsible and without foundation";^[49] the same day, the Canadian House of Commons unanimously passed a motion requesting an apology for the column.^[50]

[edit] Expert opinion

However, notwithstanding the opinion of these politicians, Wong's writing followed the comments of Professor Elliott Leyton, a social-anthropologist whom the CTV television network says is probably the world's most widely consulted expert on serial homicide. ^[51] Interviewed by CBC Newsworld on September 14th, 2006 about the Dawson College shooting, Leyton stated that because all three such murderous rampages in Quebec involved a killer who was either an immigrant or a child of immigrants, it warranted an examination of government and societal attitudes.

[edit] Following related incidents

The Dawson school shooting seems to have ignited a wave of school shootings,^[52]^[53]^[54] in a similar manner to the "copycat" shootings following the Columbine Massacre.

September 14, 2006 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; A 22 year old university law student fired a pellet gun at one of the buildings of the University of Ottawa in a drive-by shooting. He was quickly arrested at his home and was subsequently banned from the University. No one was injured

September 15, 2006 Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA; Two 17-year-old boys and one 18-year-old boy were arrested on suspicion of a possible shooting attack at Green Bay East High School. News reports said they were depressed and were fascinated with Columbine. Numerous weapons were found in their homes.

September 16, 2006 St. Louis, Missouri, USA; A senior student of Westminster High School, Austin Vincent, reportedly text-messaged his friend, saying he would commit suicide. This was later forwarded to a counselor, who called the police. He did not attend school on September 16. School got out at 3:00, and he arrived around 3:45. He got out of his mother's car holding a rifle. Police were already on the scene. Vincent reportedly pointed the rifle at his head, then waved it at the police. Officers took 3 shots, and he was hit in the leg by at least one. He was taken to a hospital in stable condition. He would later be tried as an adult.

September 16, 2006 Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Rajiv Rajan, 25, a former schoolmate and friend of Gill is alleged to have sent an email to three acquaintances of his praising Gill's action, and hinting that he may do the same. He was arrested for uttering death threats and submitted to a 30-day psychological evaluation.".^[55] ^[56]

September 18, 2006 Hudson, Quebec, Canada; A 15-year-old was arrested after uttering death threats via the same Internet site as Dawson College shooter Kimveer Gill. He was planning a similar type shooting at a high school west of Montreal.

Main Article: Platte Canyon High School shooting

September 27, 2006 Bailey, Colorado, USA; Duane Roger Morrison, a 53-year-old man, entered Platte Canyon High School, reportedly saying that he had a bomb. Morrison took six female students as hostages, later releasing four of them whilst keeping two. One of the remaining hostages was shot, wounded critically and taken away by air ambulance. The other was not wounded. Paramedics at the scene confirmed that Morrison shot and killed himself.

Main Article: Weston High School shooting

September 29, 2006 Cazenovia, Wisconsin, USA; At Weston High School, 15-year-old Eric Hainstock shoots his high school principal, who then managed to wrestle Hainstock to the ground. The principal died later in hospital from multiple gunshot wounds.

Main Article: 2006 Amish School Shooting

October 2, 2006, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, USA; A gunman took hostages and eventually killed five girls (aged 7–13) and himself at West Nickel Mines School, a one-room Amish schoolhouse.

October 2, 2006 Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; A 15-year-old freshman was arrested at his home when he sent a text message threatening to bring his gun to a local high school. The school was locked down while police arrested the suspect, but re-opened in time for classes.

October 2, 2006 Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; An ex-student of Mohave High School went on campus with a gun, his motive unknown at the time. Students recognized him as not being a student anymore and notified school police immediately. The suspect ran from the school and ditched his gun behind a church close to Mohave. Mohave, as well as 3 middle schools and 1 elementary school were placed on lockdown while police searched for him.

October 9, 2006 Joplin, Missouri, USA; A 13-year-old student fired a cheap imitation AK-47 inside his middle school after confronting two others students and his principal. After firing a shot into the ceiling and breaking a water pipe, the student's gun jammed when he attempted to fire additional shots. The student was then confronted by police officers and taken into custody. The identity of this student is yet to be released. Officers also found a note in the student's backpack indicating that he had placed an explosive in the school (which has 700 students). No one was injured in the incident

November 20, 2006 Emsdetten, Germany; An 18-year-old former student entered the Geschwister Scholl school in western Germany with 2 sawed off shotguns and an explosive device, and injured a teacher, 9 students, the school janitor, and 16 police officers. Police stormed the building, and the shooter released several smoke bombs as he retreated to the third floor, which caused most of the police injuries due to smoke inhalation. The suspect apparently killed himself, although it was unclear why he didn't detonate the pipe bombs strapped to his chest. Police later found a suicide note on the man's website explaining he was "generally frustrated" and didn't see a reason to live. The site also contained pictures of the man brandishing various types of rifles. He had apparently been inspired by Kimveer Gill.