CANADA: A gunman opened fire in a Montreal college yesterday, injuring up to 20 people. Police spokesman Ian LaFreniere said the gunman, who was dressed in a black trenchcoat, had been "neutralised".
Students fled in panic from the building, and eyewitnesses reported blood on its entry steps and inside the cafeteria, where many of the shots were fired.
"It was the most scary thing that has ever happened to me," student Michael Boyer told CBC Television. "We ran out of the building as a Swat team was coming in.
They were screaming 'Where is he? Where is he?' And when you have 20 police running at you with guns, you really know that your life is in danger."
Hospital officials told local TV stations that 12 people had been injured, and six were in critical condition. Initial reports suggested there was more than one gunman. RDI Television quoted unofficial sources as saying that one gunman had turned his weapon on himself and committed suicide, while a second had been shot and killed by police.
"A suspect has been neutralised, which means he is not shooting any more," said the police spokesman.
The shooting took place in and around Dawson College, a school with some 10,000 students between the ages of 16 and 19 in the heart of Montreal, Canada's second biggest city.
It triggered memories of the 1989 massacre at the Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, where a gunman killed 14 women before killing himself, as well as of the 1999 Columbine massacre in Colorado, where two teenagers killed 12 other students and a teacher before killing themselves.
Robert Soroka, a professor at Dawson College, said he was in his fourth floor office when heard shots. He immediately ran down the hall and told teachers to keep their students in classrooms and close the doors.
"This could have been a very bad situation, if it had happened five minutes later when the students would have been exiting their classrooms during the changeover," he said.
Prof Soroka said the shooting began at 12:45 local time and continued for about 30 minutes. He said he heard at least 20 shots. (Additional reporting, Reuters)