Heroes on the Hill honoured by RCMP
‘Incredible professionalism’ during shooter attack lauded at ceremony
When House of Commons security service Const. Samearn Son saw the barrel of a rifle in the window of the door beside his Centre Block post, he instinctively reached for his sidearm. But the gun wasn’t there. It was 9:53 on the morning of Oct. 22, 2014, and Son, who normally wore civilian clothes and carried a concealed weapon, was working an overtime shift as a uniformed door sentry. By tradition, uniformed Commons security officers did not carry weapons.
Son, a 10-year veteran of the security service, had only a flash to decide what to do next: race up the marble stairs behind him or confront the gunman without a weapon of any kind.
“My only options were fight or flight,” Son recalled Monday after an awards ceremony held to honour 20 RCMP and House of Commons security service members who helped to thwart Michael Zehaf-Bibeau’s murderous designs.
It was the first time that Son — one of the day’s principal heroes — has told his story in public.
“He came in like a raging bull,” Son said of Zehaf-Bibeau, 32, the self-described jihadist who had just gunned down Cpl. Nathan Cirillo at the National War Memorial.
Son said Zehaf-Bibeau had to pull open the front door, which gave him an extra second to prepare for the confrontation. “It probably saved my life,” he said.
Zehaf-Bibeau brought the barrel of his gun down as he came through the door and Son had just enough time to “square up” and block the gunman’s route. He surged forward and grabbed for the barrel of Zehaf-Bibeau’s rifle while yelling, “Gun! Gun!”
“I was thinking I could die running up the stairs or I could die buying my partner some time,” Son told reporters Monday. The two men struggled for control of the rifle. Zehaf-Bibeau raised it to Son’s chest. Son shoved the weapon down and jumped to the right just as a gunshot roared through Centre Block. “I thought it was lights out,” said Son, 38, a Cambodian refugee who came to Canada in 1980 from a camp in Thailand. But he had survived his moment of peril.
Son pursued the gunman up a few stairs before he realized — for the second time that morning — that he was still unarmed. He retreated outside to assess his own condition.
It was only when he rolled up his pant leg that Son discovered he had been shot. Zehaf-Bibeau’s bullet had ricocheted off the marble floor and into the flesh of his lower leg.
Son’s confrontation with Zehaf-Bibeau — and his shouted warning — gave other House of Commons security officers a few critical seconds to understand the threat and prepare to meet it.
House of Commons Const. Charles Thom was one of them. Thom, who was part of then-prime minister Stephen Harper’s security detail on Oct. 22, was stationed outside Room 237-C, the Reading Room in Centre Block where the Conservative caucus was in session.
Thom heard Son’s warning and the gunshot. He took cover behind a column and fired at Zehaf-Bibeau, striking him in the chest.
“I was very surprised that he kept running after I shot him,” Thom, 49, told reporters.
Within minutes, Zehaf-Bibeau was cornered and killed near the Library of Parliament in a final confrontation with then- sergeant-at-arms Kevin Vickers and an RCMP rapid response team. He was shot a total of 31 times; at least two of the shots were fatal.
Thom, one of those honoured Monday at RCMP National Headquarters, has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and has not returned to work more than one year after the incident.
“It has been a tough year,” said Thom, who suffers from bouts of anger and “fog-like” episodes. “You replay what happened frame-by-frame, like in a movie.”
RCMP Sgt. Patricia Flood, one of three women honoured for her bravery, said she has also struggled with the emotional aftermath of Oct. 22.
“It has been a rough year,” said Flood, who did not want to discuss her role in events that day.
At Monday’s ceremony, 12 RCMP officers and six members of the former House of Commons Security Services received the Commissioner’s Commendation for Bravery, a prestigious award for those who have demonstrated courage, dedication and professionalism while risking their lives. Two other RCMP received Commander’s Commendations for their bravery.
RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson told about 200 family members and officials gathered for Monday’s invitation-only ceremony that he could not be more proud of the “incredible professionalism” exhibited by police officers and Commons security officers as they confronted a killer “with murder in his heart.”
“It was only because of your courage that he didn’t succeed that day,” Paulson said.