The suspect's car, which did not have license plates, remained onsite throughout the morning, parked at the entrance of the War Memorial. A third witness reported seeing two suspects, one with black hair and a bandana and dressed in a long, brown coat, and a second who stayed in the car.

At 10:53 a.m., a reporter for the CBC was told that gunmen were on the roof of a building on Parliament Hill with "brandished weapons." That reporter also noted that there is a heavily wooded area near Parliament Hill, and at least one gunman appeared to be moving east away from the shooting location. At a police briefing Wednesday afternoon, the Ottawa Police Service did not confirm whether another suspect was still on the loose, noting only that because the investigation was ongoing they could not disclose details regarding the potential additional gunman. Officers urged citizens to call a hotline if they observed anything unusual over the coming days.

"We were standing nearby the monuments, we were waiting there for a city tour and I heard four [rapid] shots," a witness told the CBC. "Suddenly I saw a small guy with long black hair, looked like a Native American to me, and he ran away after the shots toward Parliament Hill. Then I saw some military running to the monuments then to Parliament Hill chasing the man." This witness confirmed that the shooter targeted a monument guard and that the gun was quite long.

Other reports indicated that there were as many as 30 to 40 shots; however, this could be due to an exchange of gunfire with police. In a video taken from inside the Parliament Hill building obtained by The Globe and Mail, roughly 24 shots are audible. "The video has too many shots to determine the type of weapon. Not unlikely it is a rifle though," a member of the Canadian military told me on the condition of anonymity. "You don't pre-plan an attack like this with only a pistol effective at a range of 50 meters."

At the Wednesday afternoon briefing, police said that another shooting that had been reported just before noon across the river from Parliament Hill at the Rideau Centre Mall did not in fact take place. An employee at Kiehl's, a shop within the mall, who answered the phone said those at the store were calm and listening to the news.

At 2:15 p.m., the Ottawa police chief confirmed two shooting locations: the National War Memorial and Parliament Hill. The National War Memorial incident in which the soldier was shot occurred first, followed by the Parliament Hill incident. It was at Parliament Hill that the gunman was shot and killed by authorities. It has been reported that Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers shot the gunman; however, Vickers did not immediately confirm his involvement in taking down the suspect.

Members of Parliament were meeting in their party caucuses when the shooting broke out. Some staff and members of the media inside Parliament Hill were allowed to leave, ducking while running out of the building. Prime Minister Stephen Harper's safety was confirmed early on, and he was taken away from Parliament Hill to an undisclosed, safe location. Harper was set to meet with Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai in Toronto today, but all his public events were canceled.