Mountie’s shot killed Hill gunman: witness
They told each other they had done their job and hugged
OTTAWA • The first comprehensive eyewitness account of the shooting of Michael Zehaf-Bibeau suggests that it was RCMP Const. Curtis Barrett who fired the fatal shot that killed the Ottawa gunman. The eyewitness told the Na
tional Post it was Barrett’s shot to the head that took down Zehaf-Bibeau and ended the shooting in the Hall of Honour on Parliament Hill.
Kevin Vickers, Parliament’s sergeant-at-arms, has received much of the credit for ending the rampage and ballistic reports are likely to confim that four of the eight bullets found in the gunman’s body came from his semi-automatic pistol. But the eye-witness said the attack was halted by the two men working together.
“None of this is to take away from Kevin. But I don’t believe we could have had an ending without further deaths or injury without Kevin or (Barrett),” the eyewitness said.
This account is corroborated by an unredacted copy of the Ontario Provincial Police’s independent investigation, a version of which will be released Wednesday with most of the names redacted.
“Const. Curtis Barrett and Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers fired their weapons and neutralized the threat,” it concludes.
The eye-witness said Zehaf-Bibeau fired his rifle at Barrett, as the constable and three colleagues, Sgt. Richard Rozon, Const. Martin Fraser and Cpl. Danny Daigle, advanced in diamond formation up the hall.
The shot whistled past Barrett and hit the wall. Previous media reports have suggested Barrett fired after Zehaf-Bibeau was taken down, but the eye-witness said the gunman was alive and standing when he was first engaged.
The OPP report states that Barrett could see the gunman standing behind the alcove and walked directly toward him, firing his weapon. He fired 15 shots in total and he “strongly believes all 15 shots hit the gunman,” it adds.
The eyewitness said that Vickers was standing against the other side of the pillar, having emerged from his office nearby.
Wh e n Zehaf-Bibeau opened fire on Barrett, it gave the sergeant-at-arms the chance to dive to the floor and shoot at the gunman.
“Bibeau did not know Kevin was there. When he shot (at Barrett), it gave the window to engage him, without being hit with a second round. Because (Zehaf-Bibeau) was being shot at, he didn’t get a chance to take a shot at Kevin on the floor,” the eyewitness said. He spoke anonymously because he has not been cleared to speak in public.
As Vickers fell, he began s hooting , while Barre tt opened fire over his head. The eyewitness said the gunman turned his shoulder when the rounds started hitting him, “like a person would if you threatened to throw a snowball at them.”
Barrett was about a metre away when Zehaf-Bibeau started to go down. But despite being hit by 31 shots, 15 of which are described in the OPP report as “perforating” his body, he was still trying to raise his rifle. This is when, according to the eyewitness account, the final shot was fired and the gunman landed at Barrett’s feet.
The former Canadian Forces explosives technician then checked Zehaf-Bibeau’s hands for a switch to trigger a suicide vest. There were no switches, but Barrett is said to have found a large hunting knife strapped to his hand.
When the shooting was over, Barrett checked on Vickers to see if he was hit. They told each other they had done their job and hugged.
Sources say Barrett reported the final head shot to RCMP management on Oct. 22. After the shooting and a subsequent search of the building, he spent the rest of the day with the New Demo- cratic Party caucus, which gave him a standing ovation. Leader Tom Mulcair asked if the gunman was wearing body armour and was told it wasn’t clear but that he didn’t go down until he was shot in the head.
Aside from shots fired by Barrett and Vickers, parliamentary security guard Const. Louis Letourneau also fired shots at ZehafBibeau, one of which hit the gunman.
The report will say that Zehaf-Bibeau shot Cpl. Nathan Cirillo three times in the back at the National War Memorial before driving to Parliament Hill, where he hijacked a car and headed toward Centre Block.
After entering the doors beneath the Peace Tower, he confronted security guard Samearn Son, who was wounded in the leg as he tried to wrestle away the gunman’s rifle. In the Hall of Honour, he was confronted by three parliamentary security guards, including Letourneau and Cpl. Maxim Malo, before sprinting to the pillar in front of the Parliamentary Library, where he fought his last stand with the RCMP officers and Vickers.