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Today is the 10th anniversary of a terrorist attack in Ottawa. A lone jihadist gunman drove up to the National War Memorial and shot one of the ceremonial guards in the back, killing him. He then drove a block to the main entrance to the Parliament Buildings, forced his way into the central hallway, shooting one of the unarmed security guards and ran to the far end of the hall. Several armed guards shot at him, apparently wounding him. He ending up hiding behind a large column and shooting down the hall. At the same time, the Sergeant at Arms who was in his office, heard the shooting, took his pistol and went into the hallway, ending up on the other side of the same column as the gunman. The Sergeant at Arms was a former member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and was well trained. He then did something right out of a cowboy movie. He threw himself in front of the column, on his back and while in the air, fired at the jihadist and hitting him a total of 4 times.
A lot of interesting things came out afterwards including the fact that there were too many police forces. The House of Commons had their own police force and they were armed and trained and responsible for part of the building The Senate had its own police force and the senators refused to allow them to be armed and they were responsible for the other part of the building. The Mounted Police were responsible for the rest of the Parliamentary Precinct and the Ottawa City Police were responsible for the area outside of the Parliamentary Precinct. Subsequently, the two Parliamentary Police forces, were merged and put under the operational control of the Mounted Police.
The Sergeant at Arms was rewarded by being made Ambassador to Ireland but he now says that he thinks that was just a way of getting him out of town when the two forces were merged.
I do remember that there was a lot of confusion because it was thought that a second gunman had attacked a nearby shopping centre. Fortunately that was not the case
All in all, it was a lesson that nobody is safe from fanatics and that we must never let out guard down
A lot of interesting things came out afterwards including the fact that there were too many police forces. The House of Commons had their own police force and they were armed and trained and responsible for part of the building The Senate had its own police force and the senators refused to allow them to be armed and they were responsible for the other part of the building. The Mounted Police were responsible for the rest of the Parliamentary Precinct and the Ottawa City Police were responsible for the area outside of the Parliamentary Precinct. Subsequently, the two Parliamentary Police forces, were merged and put under the operational control of the Mounted Police.
The Sergeant at Arms was rewarded by being made Ambassador to Ireland but he now says that he thinks that was just a way of getting him out of town when the two forces were merged.
I do remember that there was a lot of confusion because it was thought that a second gunman had attacked a nearby shopping centre. Fortunately that was not the case
All in all, it was a lesson that nobody is safe from fanatics and that we must never let out guard down
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