‘He always had a smile on his face,’ says a friend, as flags fly at half mast to remember harrowing attack on capital

Flags are flying at halfstaff in Ottawa on Thursday in honor of the man whose death began a harrowing attack on the heart of Canada’s government.

Cpl Nathan Cirillo, the father of a young son, was killed while standing guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the national war memorial.

“Our family is grieving,” a relative told the Canadian Press. “Right now is the wrong time to talk.” The family has said they will not be speaking to the public.

Cirillo, a 24-year-old reservist from Hamilton, Ontario, was on turn at the memorial honoring Canada’s fallen soldiers when he was shot and killed by a man identified as Michael Zehaf-Bibeau. Medics and bystanders rushed to save Cirillo’s life after he was shot, giving him CPR before he was taken away by ambulance. He died of his wounds in hospital shortly afterwards.

“He always had a smile on his face; he was always walking around giving people handshakes, introducing people to himself,” Cirillo’s friend Peter DiBussolo told the Ottawa Citizen. “He would always try to keep a conversation going. He was an outgoing person; he knew how to have fun.”

His Facebook and Instagram accounts show a dog lover, a proud father and a strong outdoorsman. An active social media user, Cirillo posted many photos of himself snuggling with his dogs, carrying them on his shoulders and watching as his son plays with his German shepherd. A photo of Cirillo, his son and one of his dogs is tagged “family”.

Condolences have poured in from across the world. At least two memorial pages were created on Facebook to commemorate his life and service. On Twitter, a woman named Megan Underwood posted a photograph over the weekend of her friend posing with a “handsome guard”, who she would realize on Wednesday was Cirillo at the national war memorial.



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

David Cirillo, who identified himself as Nathan’s cousin, addressed the killer in a Facebook post: “To the gunman that shot my cousin point-blank in front of the Parliament Hill this morning for no reason: you will get what’s coming to you,” David wrote. “You destroyed my whole family for life.”

In his brief address on Wednesday night, prime minister Stephen Harper expressed his condolences to Cirillo’s family.

Lt Col Lawrence Hatfield of the Argylls said on Wednesday: “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, and we hope that Canadians share that with us and as well for the ongoing safety of our soldiers.”