The 2014 shootings at Parliament Hill occurred on 22 October 2014, at Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Corporal Nathan Cirillo, a Canadian soldier, Afghanistan veteran, and reservist on ceremonial sentry duty, was fatally shot at the National War Memorial, followed by an attack on the nearby Centre Block parliament building, where members of the Parliament of Canada were attending caucuses. The attack ended with a shootout when the perpetrator, 32-year-old Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, ran inside the parliament buildings and was shot 31 times by six Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers and died on scene. Following the shootings, the downtown core of Ottawa was placed on lockdown and majority of schools in Ottawa were on lockdown while police searched for any potential additional threats.
Classified by the RCMP as a terrorist act, it was the most serious security breach at Parliament Hill since the 1966 parliament bombing. The attack gained international attention and raised concerns about the effectiveness of police actions to prevent terrorist attacks, and the security measures in place at federal and provincial legislatures.
Shortly before 10:00 a.m. EDT, on 22 October 2014, witnesses saw a man arrive at the National War Memorial carrying a rifle, dressed in blue jeans and a black jacket, with a keffiyeh scarf over the lower part of his face. The attacker approached Corporal Nathan Cirillo of The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise's), a reserve infantry unit, who was one of three sentries from the Ceremonial Guard posted at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. At close range, Cirillo was shot twice in the back, fatally wounding him. One account stated that after Cirillo was hit once in the back from a distance of 3 meters from the memorial, he tried to take cover and crawl to the other side of the tomb but the gunman pursued him and shot him again in the lower back from behind. Cirillo, like all others who stood sentry at the memorial, carried an unloaded firearm, provided by the CAF with no particular training for such a situation. It was only minutes before the end of the sentries' shift, which ended at 10:00 a.m. Cpl. Kyle Button and Cpl. Branden Stevenson, two other soldiers on sentry duty, attempted to stop the attack, but they were shot at and forced to flee to the other side of the Memorial.The attacker pulled down his scarf, held his rifle one-handedly over his head and yelled, "For Iraq." before fleeing the scene. The three soldiers then attended to Cirillo. Along with bystanders, they applied first aid to Cirillo, attempting to resuscitate him, before Paramedic Chief Anthony DiMonte was first on scene, assumed patient care until additional paramedics arrived to provide medical care before Cirillo was taken to hospital.
Cpl. Anthony Wiseman was nearly run over while attempting to stop the attacker who returned to his vehicle, a small grey Toyota car, which was parked on the south side of Wellington Street behind the memorial. He drove west along Wellington a short distance to Parliament Hill where he abandoned his vehicle. Past scattering bystanders, he ran through a gate in the fence surrounding the Parliament Hill precinct and carjacked a parliamentary vehicle assigned to ministers of the Crown, which he drove to the Centre Block parliament building. RCMP officers on patrol in the precinct witnessed the carjacking and pursued the vehicle to the base of the Peace Tower.
A photograph of the attack was taken by a tourist at the war memorial during the shootings. It shows the attacker holding the rifle and wearing a scarf over part of his face, with part of the War Memorial behind him. Ottawa police seized the camera and then took their own photograph of the image using a cellphone. French-Canadian journalist William Reymond received a copy of the photograph via the Internet, anonymously, apparently a copy of a tweet originating from the Ottawa Police of the cellphone picture. Reymond then took a picture of the image as it was displayed on his computer monitor and posted it to Twitter a few hours later after confirming the image. The image was re-tweeted by an ISIL sympathizer, leading to erroneous media reports that the image originated from an ISIL Twitter account.
The attacker, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, entered the Centre Block through the main entrance under the Peace Tower, where Samearn Son was one of two constables on duty. Son saw the rifle in Zehaf-Bibeau's hand, immediately grabbed it, and pulled it towards the floor while yelling, "Gun! Gun! Gun!" In the ensuing struggle, Son was shot in the foot and had to let go of the attacker. While other RCMP officers converged, Son limped out of the building and calmly told a CBC reporter outside, "I will survive." Just inside the Centre Block, gunfire was exchanged with security personnel and the attacker was wounded.
Zehaf-Bibeau then ran along the Hall of Honour corridor toward the Library of Parliament. Pursued by RCMP officers, he passed, on his left, the door to a committee room in which Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the governing Conservative Members of Parliament (MPs) were meeting. Directly opposite was the door to another caucus room, where leader of the opposition, Thomas Mulcair, and New Democratic Party MPs were gathered. (The Liberals, as the third party, were holding their caucus meeting in a chamber downstairs.) During the shooting, one bullet penetrated the outer doors to the NDP caucus room. Inside their room, NDP MPs dove for cover. Across the hall, the RCMP placed Prime Minister Harper in a closet while Conservative MPs made a barricade at the doors, grabbing flagpoles to use as rudimentary spears.Finally, the attacker reached an alcove by the entrance to the Library of Parliament, and hid out of sight of RCMP officers, who ordered him to drop his gun and surrender. The location of the alcove is near the office of the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Commons, Kevin Vickers. Vickers, a distinguished policeman, commander and administrator with the RCMP before he joined the staff of the House of Commons in 2005, retrieved his 9mm Smith & Wesson 5946 handgun from a lock-box and entered the hall.
Vickers's security team, which had been chasing, yelled to Vickers that the suspect was hiding in the alcove. Vickers immediately ran behind the other side of a nearby column, then dove past the column and fired upward at the attacker.
Witnesses and reports show RCMP Constable Curtis Barrett, leading the tactical formation, fired the shot that killed the attacker after they had fired in his direction. CBC television cameras on the scene recorded over 30 shots fired in the final gunfight. Footage showed a group of RCMP officers converging near the alcove; two loud gunshots are heard, then a large number of gunshots in rapid succession, then silence.
Vickers was recorded by CBC video footage walking away from the shooting site, going to the Conservative caucus room. Vickers explained to the Conservative caucus what had happened and reportedly said either "I put him down" or "I have engaged the suspect. He is deceased." According to Vickers's niece: "This is the first time in his career that he's shot anyone." Following the shooting, Harper's RCMP security detail arrived and evacuated him, while the Parliament buildings were put into lockdown.
Corporal Nathan Frank Cirillo (23 December 1989 – 22 October 2014), a 24-year-old Canadian soldier, was killed. He was a Class-A reservist of The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada from Hamilton, Ontario. He was on sentry duty, as a chosen member of the Ceremonial Guard, at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the National War Memorial when he was shot. Cirillo had a standard issue Colt Canada C7 rifle which, in accordance with standard practice, was unloaded. Although several civilians immediately provided assistance for the wounded reservist, Cirillo died in hospital later that morning. Cirillo's funeral took place a few days later. The procession of an estimated 4,500 military members — as well as police and emergency service members — made its way from Bayfront Park to Christ's Church Cathedral on James Street North. Thousands of onlookers silently paid their respects all along the route. Members of the regiment, Cirillo's mother Kathy, and Cirillo's five-year-old son followed wearing his father's style regiment's cap observed as his flag-draped casket was carried inside. Corporal Cirillo's remains are buried in the very middle of the military section of Woodland Cemetery in Burlington, Ontario.