MPs were “terrified’ during gun fight in Parliament

October 23, 2014 · 0 Comments

By Bill Rea
It’s “business as usual” today (Thursday) on Parliament Hill, but Dufferin-Caledon MP David Tilson reports things were pretty scary yesterday.
Wednesday saw what is thought to have been a terrorist attack on Parliament Hill.
According to published reports, a single gunman, identified at this time as Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, shot and killed Cpl. Nathan Crillo, 24, as he stood guard at the National War Memorial, then entered the Parliament Buildings, where shooting erupted.
Tilson stressed people were back at work today, although security was tight and it’s still a crime scene.
“We’re not going to be intimidated,” Tilson told the Citizen. “We’re back at work. It’s business as usual today.”
Tilson reported all three political parties were in their regular weekly caucus meetings Wednesday morning.
At Conservative meetings, Tilson said Prime Minister Stephen Harper generally speaks at the start, and that was the case in this session.
“We all heard about 30 gun shots, just outside our door,” Tilson said. “Needless to say, we were all terrified. It was a very scary time.”
Tilson said it was a case in which people there didn’t know what to do; whether they should get out of the room or which door to use.
“We had no idea if there was one person out in the hall or 10 people out in the hall,” he recalled.
MPs barricaded the doors with chairs and tables. There are no weapons in caucus rooms, so Tilson said some Members grabbed flag poles, with sharp ornaments at the top shaped like maple leaves, and fashioned them into spears with the purpose of slowing the attacker(s) down if the doors were breached.
Harper was hustled by Members into a side room, which Tilson said is used to store sound equipment, and some of them held themselves against the door.
RCMP officers eventually arrived and took Harper out, but MPs were kept in their caucus rooms during the lockdown.
“We had some water, no food,” Tilson said.
At about 6:45 p.m., large buses arrived to take MPs to the Pearson Building on Sussex Drive (about a mile from Parliament Hill). Tilson said there were about half a dozen armed police officers on the bus.
Once there, they were fed pizza.
“We hadn’t eaten all day,” Tilson said.
There were also TVs set up, so they were able to see Harper’s address to the country, as well as the addresses of the other leaders. The PM later showed up at the assembly of MPs (from all parties) and addressed them.
There were a lot of rumours circulating during the lockdown.
Tilson said one problem was they still didn’t know how many gunmen there were. Some security people had dropped hints the one man had been armed with a large knife.
“I didn’t even know who the fellow was,” he commented.
Tilson agreed that Parliamentary Sergent-at-Arms Keven Vickers, who shot and killed the gunman, is a hero.
He said the House of Commons resumed this morning.
“We gave a standing ovation to Mr. Vickers, the Sergeant-at-Arms, when he walked into the House,” Tilson reported.
He said Harper delivered an emotional address, followed by the other party leaders and independent MPs. There were signs of unity from all present. “The three leaders even hugged each other at the end of their speeches,” he remarked.
Spending almost nine hours in lockdown with no food was not very pleasant, but Tilson said he found ways to put the time to good use. “It was an opportunity for me to talk to ministers,” he said, adding had some constituency matters he wanted to bring up with some of them, and they are sometimes hard to get in touch with.
He was also able to call his wife; several times.
MPs are not allowed to bring phones or Blackberrys into caucus. They are checked in rooms just outside the meeting chamber, but once the incident took place, they were able to get their equipment back.
Tilson also said he called his two constituency offices (in Bolton and Orangeville) and instructed his staff to close them.
“We had no idea whether there was some sort of country-wide terrorist attack,” he said.
“I had dozens and dozens of telephone calls and emails from people expressing concern for Members of Parliament and myself, and I appreciate that,” Tilson said.
He also recalled that he “absolutely” was scared when the shooting started.
“The doors were not secure,” he remarked. “All members were scared.”
He also observed that there was no word how many attackers there really were.
“If they had stormed into the room, the Prime Minister would have been killed, and a number of Members of Parliament would have been killed,” he commented. “That’s how scary it was.”