Shooting Near Canadian Parliament Causes Fear

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Police in Ottawa say they are searching for more than one gunman after a Canadian soldier was shot and wounded at the national war memorial before an apparent exchange of fire inside nearby parliament buildings.

Police said they were called at 9:52am local time on Wednesday with a report of shots fired at the memorial. Paramedics said they attended to a uniformed soldier, who was then taken to hospital.

At least one gunman then moved to nearby Parliament Hill. Video obtained by Canada’s Globe and Mail showed police moving through the parliament buildings before multiple shots were heard in an apparent exchange of gunfire.

A Globe reporter inside parliament revealed that  a body was seen on the ground after the gunfire, although the casualty was not confirmed.

Hospital officials told the Reuters agency that they received three patients. Two were in a stable condition .

One witness at parliament, Marc-Andre Viau, told the AFP news agency that he saw a man run into a meeting inside parliament, chased by police who yelled “take cover”. That was followed by up to 20 gunshots.

People fled parliament by scrambling down scaffolding being used in renovations, witnesses told the Canadian Press news agency.

At 11.30am local time (15.30 GMT), Senator Jim Munson said: “The building is in complete lockdown. People are quite shaken. This kind of terrorist attack did not seem possible. It is my understanding that one shooter has been killed and there could possibly be three.”

Those details were not confirmed by police. At about 17.00 GMT, police said they were searching for one or more people and investigating three gunfire incidents – the first at the memorial, the second at Parliament Hill, and the third near the nearby Rideau shopping center.

Many buildings in central Ottawa were sealed by armed police.

One of the gunmen was described as heavy set, carrying a long weapon and disguised with a scarf.

The spokesman for the prime minister, Stephen Harper, said Harper was safe and had left Parliament Hill.

Canada raised its terrorism threat level from low to medium hours before the attack, the highest it has been for four years.

The incident comes two days after two Canadian soldiers were run over – and one of them killed – in Quebec.