Gunshots Ring Out Inside Canadian Parliament

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    A video from inside the Canadian Parliament building shows officers searching for gunmen then multiple shots ringing out. Canadian Parliament under lockdown after 'multiple' gunmen 'kill soldier standing guard at the National War Memorial before opening fire in the Parliament halls' A gunman has shot a Canadian soldier standing guard at the National War Memorial before multiple gunmen fired dozens of shots inside the halls of Parliament in Ottawa. Police have said there are 'two or three' gunmen inside the building and one has been shot dead. After Parliament was placed on lockdown, police swarmed downtown Ottawa as other shootings were reported at the Rideau Centre mall and the Chateau Laurier Hotel. Before 10am on Wednesday, witnesses reported seeing a gunman climbing out of a car, grabbing a rifle, shooting the soldier in the abdomen and then running towards Parliament Hill. Ottawa police received a call at 9.52am that shots had been heard in Parliament, while journalists cowering inside said they heard dozens of rounds and could smell gunpowder in the hallways. A spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Harper was safe and had been evacuated from Parliament Hill. He will make a statement about the attacks later today. He had been scheduled to give Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, co-winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize, her Canadian citizenship today. The incident also comes just two days after two Canadian soldiers were run over - and one of them killed - in Quebec by a man with jihadist sympathies. CTV reported that three people have been hospitalized - two are in stable condition and one is in critical condition. The soldier shot at the War Memorial, a man in his 30s who was a reservist serving with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in Hamilton, was struck in the abdomen. He was pictured being carried on a stretcher into an ambulance. Globe and Mail reporter Josh Wingrove, who is inside the building, wrote on Twitter that security officers said a parliamentary guard had been shot in the leg but was recovering in hospital. The gunman who was shot in the Parliament was killed by Sergeant At Arms Kevin Vickers, who had worked for the RCMP for 29 years before starting the role in Parliament in 2006. 'I am safe & profoundly grateful to Sgt at Arms Kevin Vickers & our security forces for selfless act of keeping us safe,' said Julian Fantino, Canada's Minister of Veterans Affairs, on Twitter. The government said there is not yet any evidence that the gunman has any ties to violent Islamic extremism but noted that it is still early in the investigation. An Ottawa Citizen reporter inside the Parliament building, Jordan Press, wrote on Twitter that a suspect was '5'9-5'10, overweight & wearing a dark jacket'.

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