The Canadian soldier killed in Wednesday's attack in Ottawa was a guard at the city's war memorial who posed for a photo with a smiling tourist just days before his death. Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, 25, was gunned down during the frantic incident in the Canadian capital while on duty at the National War Memorial. Among hundreds of tributes posted across social media was a photo of Cirillo posing with a female tourist. "On Sunday, we asked a very handsome guard for a picture with my friend visiting from Cali," read the accompanying tweet, which garnered tens of thousands of re-tweets and favorites. "RIP Nathan Cirillo."

Cirillo, originally from Hamilton, Ontario, was in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, one of Canada's largest reserve units. He had aspirations to join the border guard and leaves behind a 6-year-old son, according to The Globe and Mail. "He was a wonderful young man. Not an enemy in the world," Cirillo’s aunt told the newspaper, asking that her name be withheld. "He always had a smile on his face," his friend Peter DiBussolo told The Ottawa Citizen. "He was always walking around giving people handshakes, introducing people to himself." The young father was also an animal lover, his Instagram profile dominated by images of his military training and his pet dogs. "Just another day at work :)," read his last post on the social networking site, accompanied by a photo of him and a colleague dressed in their uniforms and kilts.

IN-DEPTH

SOCIAL

On Sunday, we asked a very handsome guard for a picture with my friend visiting from Cali - RIP Nathan Cirillo pic.twitter.com/q80EZ6nwmo — Megan Underwood (@megunder) October 22, 2014

Ok so we were on a tour at that war monument in Ottawa a few minutes ago, a few seconds later there was a shooting.. pic.twitter.com/yzCtBlGZ2v -Evanem (@kamakazi19982) October 22, 2014

- Alexander Smith