Manitoba MP just steps away from shooting on Parliament Hill

WINNIPEG – A member of Parliament from Manitoba was just steps away from the shooting that rocked Parliament Hill in Ottawa Wednesday morning.

“It’s somewhat surreal in the sense that, here we are in the Parliament building, which is really Canada’s centre point of freedom and democracy, and it’s an assault on that.”

Kevin Lamoureux, the Liberal MP for Winnipeg North, was attending his party’s weekly caucus meeting in the centre block of Parliament when security officers arrived to tell the MPs they had to leave the building.

“When I had gotten out of the caucus room, I heard this rapid gunfire — at least 20 shots, I would say, within 10 seconds, maybe even five, I’m not really sure, but at least 20 shots, and it was very loud,” Lamoureux told Global Winnipeg via phone from a building across the street from the Parliament buildings where MPs were still in lockdown as heavily armed police patrolled the area.

The shooting happened just up the stairs, one floor above where he and his colleagues had been meeting, Lamoureux said.

“People were moving a lot faster after the gunshots and got outside. About five minutes after that, the prime minister’s motorcade appeared to be leaving, and then about 10 minutes after that, some heavily armed law enforcement officers at the back of the building … telling us we have to get off the Hill, there’s another shooter. At least that’s what they had implied,” Lamoureux said. “As upsetting as this is, I hate the fact that someone feels they can do this and affect our lives.”