A GUNMAN ATTACKS STUDENTS IN MONTREAL YV Introduction “The sound of gunfire on a September Kimveer Gill appeared to be a frus- Focus afternoon crackling through a bustling trated loner who was full of hate. He The eager buzz of downtown Canadian college campus, lived a violent fantasy life online at a students heading teeming with thousands of exuberant site called vampirefreaks.com. His for class at Dawson College was shat- teenage students at the beginning of parents and friends seemed to know tered September what many undoubtedly believed was to little of what was going on inside his 13, 2006, by the be the most exciting year of their lives. tortured mind. sounds of bullets What can be more frightening?” — The victim was Anastasia De Sousa, ringing out. The Tony Burman (CBC News In Depth, an attractive, intelligent 18-year-old background causes, actions, and results September 14, 2006) who appeared to enjoy a host of friends of this terrible and had clear career and life goals. Her event will linger for Canadians were horrified to hear of the shattered family did not talk directly a long time in attack on students at Montreal’s with the media. At her funeral, most Montreal and Dawson College in September 2006. attendees wore pink (her favourite across Canada. The first wave of confused reports colour). The anguish of her friends and Warning: Some of this material may suggested several shooters and many family moved a nation. be too graphic and dead. Some wondered whether this was It took several days before the shat- troubling for some some sort of terrorist attack. Fear was tered Dawson College students could students. highest in Montreal as parents return to their school. School staff scrambled to find out whether their prepared for their return with special children were casualties. Older Canadi- crisis counsellors and programs to help Further Research ans and Montrealers remembered a students handle the trauma of returning To learn more similar attack in 1989 at École to the murder scene. about Dawson College, you may Polytechnique. Many people questioned why this wish to visit the As more reports arrived, it became type of murderous rampage happened in official Web site at clear that one shooter, Kimveer Gill, Montreal once again. This was the third http://dept.dawson had entered the school heavily armed school shooting in Montreal in 17 years. college.qc.ca/news/. and had begun shooting in a random but The memories of the 1989 slaughter of deadly manner. He had entered the female engineering students in the YV school dressed in a long black trench classes and corridors of the École Sections coat and army boots and had multiple Polytechnique were still fresh for some marked with this symbol indicate piercings and a Mohawk haircut. It Montrealers. Revisiting those horrible content suitable for appeared that his victims included one events raised uncomfortable questions. younger viewers. dead and 18 wounded. Eight students Was there something in Quebec society were critically wounded, with five that caused this? Were gun-control laws rushed into surgery at Montreal General ineffective? What could be done to Hospital. The first reports indicated that identify violent people much earlier? Gill had been shot by police; later it Surprisingly, all the weapons Gill was revealed that he had only been used during his shooting spree were wounded but then had taken his own owned legally and registered with the life. national gun registry. The Harper The killer and his murder victim were government, which earlier announced soon profiled in detail in the media. its intention to scrap or curtail the gun CBC News in Review • October 2006 • Page 6 registry, noted that it was useless in tion were being drawn once again. The Update protecting Canadians from attacks by lingering questions of why these trag- As of late Septem- ber, two shooting such sick human beings. The newly edies seem to be so prevalent in the victims were still in returned House of Commons was soon United States and increasingly in hospital: a 22-year- in an uproar, with supporters of the Canada remained unanswered and old man in critical registry vowing to defeat any attempts troubling. What should have been such but stable condi- to weaken it. a happy start to a new academic year tion with a bullet in his brain and an 18- So as Montreal and Dawson College left Dawson College students in particu- year-old woman slowly returned to a more normal, lar and Canadians in general uneasy and who suffered productive and peaceful state, the battle confused. wounds to the lines over gun ownership and registra- chest and abdomen. To Consider Update 1. Describe the scene at Dawson College on September 13, 2006. As this story was being prepared, two other school shootings took place. In Colorado, on 2. What painful memories did the Dawson tragedy invoke? September 27, 2006, located not far from the same place as the Columbine killings, one incident re- 3. In your view, what impact will this event have on the gun-control debate sulted in one in Canada? student murdered and the shooter’s suicide. The shooter had separated male and female stu- dents and had taken only females 4. In your opinion can schools be protected and prepared for this type of as hostages. random attack? Explain. Then, on October 1, a man took over an Amish school in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania and separated male and female students 5. How safe do you feel in your own school environment? Explain fully. before killing and wounding the female students. He then killed himself. CBC News in Review • October 2006 • Page 7 A GUNMAN ATTACKS STUDENTS IN MONTREAL YV Video Review 1. How many students attend Dawson College in Montreal? _______________ Answer the ques- tions as you view 2. What evidence is there that there was much confusion on the day of the the video. Note shooting? that you may find some of the scenes very disturbing. Did you know . One lucky survivor of the Dawson 3. According to police, how quickly did they arrive on the scene? ___________ shooting, who was in the same corri- 4. How many casualties were reported at the scene of the shooting? dor as Kimveer Gill, had been in Beirut in July 2006 when 5. What is known about the killer? fighting erupted between Hezbollah and the Israeli army. Two weeks␣ before the shooting,␣ she had also survived a house fire in Mon- 6. What was Quebec Premier Jean Charest’s view of the gun registry pro- treal. gram? Did you know . All the weapons in Kimveer Gill’s 7. What has been revealed about school shootings according to reporter possession were Ioanna Roumeliotis? legally owned and registered with the Canadian gun registry. He also had a legal re- stricted-class fire- arms licence. 8. Do you agree with Barbara Coloroso’s claim that shooters such as those at Colombine and Dawson are not monsters but are severely troubled human beings? Explain. CBC News in Review • October 2006 • Page 8 9. How did the response of police and paramedics differ from the situation in 1989 at Montreal’s École Polytechnique? 10. How did Kimveer Gill leave clues to his troubled mind on the Internet? 11. Outline your reaction to Paul Gillespie’s (Internet crime consultant) claim that the Internet should be monitored for people like Kimveer Gill. 12. Outline your views on the issue of gun control. Why do you think it did not prevent the tragedy at Dawson College? 13. How would you suggest stopping violent shootings like the one at Dawson College? Be specific. CBC News in Review • October 2006 • Page 9 A GUNMAN ATTACKS STUDENTS IN MONTREAL YV Shooter and Victim Two people perished in the shootings at What He Wrote Further Research Dawson College: the shooter, Kimveer “Society disgusts me.” To explore the Gill, and his innocent victim, Anastasia whole issue of “Lived fast, died young. Left a mangled De Sousa. These brief profiles of young violent video corpse.” games, see the lives so tragically entwined on Septem- News in Review ber 13, 2006, may offer some under- “Taste my steel” (while holding up a story “Video standing of how one troubled young large knife). Games: Can Some person with a bleak outlook destroyed “My Loyalties: I pledge Allegiance to Cause Violence?” the life of a girl with a bright future. from October 2004. Marilyn Manson; I pledge Allegiance to The video and Most Canadians had never heard of Goth; I pledge Allegiance to anarchy; I resource guide Kimveer Gill before his bloody attack pledge Allegiance to Black Metal.” should be available on students at Dawson College on in your school September 13, 2006. However, he had “Work sucks . School sucks . Life library, or you can posted his frightening and troubled sucks . What else can I say?” go online to www.cbc.ca/ thoughts in an online diary on a Web “F*** THE WORLD. You’re all ani- newsinreview/ site that had over 600 000 registered mals. I can see through you. When I oct04/index.html. members. He referred to himself with a look in your eyes, I can see your battery of different names such as thoughts. You’re nothing at all. Just “Trench,” “Angel of Death,” “Fatality animals.” Definition 666.” He appeared to be full of hate for “Metal and Goth kick ass. Life is like a Going postal is a the world and most people in it. While video game, you gotta die sometime.” slang term that parents and friends were shocked by his means to go ber- bloody attack on the innocent students serk and wreak Source: All quotes are from Gill’s diary terrible vengeance at Dawson College, his online diary on vampirefreaks.com but have since on innocent peo- clearly revealed a troubled and angry been removed from the site ple, especially young man.