Mother of Ottawa shooter ‘crying for victims’

Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, the gunman in the shootings in Ottawa. Picture: Contributed

Susan Bibeau said she did not know what to say to those hurt in the attack.

“Can you ever explain something like this?” she said. “We are sorry.”

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Investigators offered little information about the gunman in Ottawa, identified as 32-year-old petty criminal Michael Zehaf-Bibeau.

Canadian police conceded today that Zehaf-Bibeau was the lone gunman, the second attack in three days in what the prime minister described as terrorism.

Mrs Bibeau she was devastated for the victims of the attack.

“If I’m crying it’s for the people,” she said, struggling to hold back tears. “Not for my son.”

Mrs Bideau and her husband had earlier sent the Associated Press a lengthy email expressing horror and sadness at what happened.

“I am mad at my son,” the email said, explaining that he seemed lost “and did not fit in”.

“I, his mother, spoke with him last week over lunch, I had not seen him for over five years before that,” the email said. “So I have very little insight to offer.”

The heart of the capital city of Ottawa had been in lockdown after yesterday’s attack, with fears that other gunmen might be on the loose.

Ottawa police constable Marc Soucy confirmed today that police are satisfied there was one attacker. Ottawa police chief Charles Bordeleau said that “there is no longer a threat to public safety”.

The two attacks stunned Canadians and raised concerns their country was being targeted for reprisals for joining the US-led air campaign against the extremist Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq and Syria.

Today Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited the National War Memorial where the soldier was killed to lay a wreath.

A man was detained by police near where Mr Harper put down the wreath. Mr Soucy said the man tried to breach the crime scene and thought there would be minor charges if he is charged.

Earlier, Mr Harper called the shooting the country’s second terrorist attack in three days. A man Harper described as an “Isil-inspired terrorist” on Monday ran over two soldiers in a parking lot in Quebec, killing one and injuring another before being shot to death by police. Like the suspect from the shooting in Ottawa, he was a recent convert to Islam.

Witnesses said the soldier posted at the National War Memorial, identified as Corporal Nathan Cirillo, was gunned down at point-blank range by a man carrying a rifle and dressed all in black, his face half-covered with a scarf.

The gunman appeared to raise his arms in triumph, then entered parliament, a few hundred yards away, where dozens of shots soon rang out, according to witnesses.

People fled the complex by scrambling down scaffolding erected for renovations, while others took cover inside as police with rifles and body armour took up positions outside and cordoned off the normally bustling streets around parliament.

On Twitter, Canada’s justice minister and other government officials credited 58-year-old sergeant-at-arms Kevin Vickers with shooting the attacker just outside the MPs’ caucus rooms.

Mr Vickers serves a largely ceremonial role at the House of Commons, carrying a sceptre and wearing rich green robes, white gloves and a tall imperial hat.

At least three people were treated for minor injuries.

In the UK, police and intelligence chiefs are reviewing the security of Parliament and other London institutions after the incident.

Prime Minister David Cameron, who was with MI5 director-general Andrew Parker and Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe when news broke about the attack, said he had been given reassurances about the measures in place.

Mr Cameron said meetings were being held to make sure that security and intelligence services have “all the angles covered”.

Speaking to the BBC’s Asian Network, he said: “I was actually in a meeting with the Metropolitan Police Commissioner and the head of MI5 when the news about Ottawa broke.

“They immediately reassured me that they had been looking at the security of institutions in central London but they would look again, obviously, to see if there is anything more that can be done and those meetings are taking place this morning.

“But, from everything I see - and I regularly chair Cobra meetings in our emergency committee to review our security - I know that we are taking steps across the board to meet the threats that we face as a country.

“Obviously what’s happened in Canada is a very tragic event. Lives have been lost, including the life of a soldier, and it shows that we have to be permanently vigilant against this sort of terrorist threat.

“Here in the UK we are very vigilant and, as I’ve said, meetings are taking place to make sure that we have all the angles covered.”

The Queen has spoken of her shock after a soldier was shot dead in the Canadian capital.

She said: “Philip and I were shocked and saddened by the events in Ottawa.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected.”