OTTAWA — The Canadian soldier who was shot and killed as he stood guard on a bright and chilly morning at the National War Memorial is identified as Cpl. Nathan Frank Cirillo, family and military sources say.

A Parliament Hill security guard was wounded in the chaotic attack Wednesday just before 10 a.m. in the nation’s capital that police believe involved more than one assailant.

Cirillo, of Hamilton, was one of two Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada reservists standing guard in front of the monument when a gunman opened fire Wednesday morning. The shooter was killed inside the Parliament buildings after firing at least 20 shots.

Ottawa police would not confirm a CBS News report that has identified the dead shooter as Michael Zehaf-Bibeau. A high-ranking federal officer confirmed his identity to The Canadian Press. He was born in 1982 and is believed to be Canadian, the American news outlet reported, quoting U.S. officials.

Court and property records show a man named Michael Zehaf-Bibeau had a last known address in Montreal and a 2004 arrest for possession of marijuana and phencyclidine, also known as PCP or angel dust.

After the CBS report, pictures of a man named Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, a 32-year-old Canadian, began to circulate, including one depicting a man by that name with long, dark hair, wearing a scarf around the lower half of his face and holding a primitive-looking long rifle.













One of those photos was posted on an ISIS media outlet on Twitter and shows the same image.

Social media accounts and online photos paint a picture of Cirillo as a loving father to his young son, animal lover and fitness buff. Pictures depict him smiling, cuddling a dog, working out at the gym, and playing guitar.

Cirillo was part of a large family and attended Sherwood Secondary School.

Alleged locations of shooting in Ottawa

Messages of condolences and grief were posted online, including on the Argylls’ Facebook page, where a photo of Cirillo and another soldier proudly guarding the monument was posted Oct. 19.

Col. Geordie Elms, the Hamilton mayor’s senior adviser of military heritage and protocol and a former commanding officer of the Argylls, said they are a close-knit group, shocked by the death.

“This kind of duty is something they look forward to; it’s a treat,” he said.

The shootings occurred at the National War Memorial and Parliament Hill. Contrary to early reports, no shooting occurred near the Rideau Centre mall, Ottawa police said.

In the area around Parliament, the lockdown that had been lifted earlier in the day was reinstated Wednesday evening, parliamentary security officials said, explaining the situation was still fluid.

Witnesses described seeing the soldier, who was serving as a ceremonial guard at the foot of the cenotaph, shot at point-blank range before the gunman ran off in the direction of Parliament Hill.

Sirens blared and buildings in the area went under lockdown as police and soldiers continued the manhunt into Wednesday afternoon.

Police said in a news release Wednesday afternoon that nobody had been arrested. Police were then going on the assumption there was more than one shooter.

The Ottawa Hospital said it has received three patients, two of whom are listed in stable condition.

Globe and Mail reporter Josh Wingrove films shooting in Parliament Hill building

An Ottawa woman driving beside the War Memorial noticed a beige car parked in a lane near the monument where no car would normally be parked.

As she watched, a short man with shoulder-length hair and an open jacket got out of the car on the driver’s side.

“As I’m wondering what the heck is this, the driver opens the back door to his car and pulls out what looks to be a bunch of blankets or a rolled-up sleeping bag, and he runs, dashes, to the War Memorial,” she told the Star.

A few moments later, she saw the man coming back. “And I see that he’s carrying a shiny object that, from afar, looked like a pipe, like a silvery-coloured pipe, which I now know was a long gun,” she recalled.

She asked not to be identified.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson said in an interview with the Star he was in his office when he was advised by Ottawa Police Chief Charles Bordeleau what was unfolding.

“First thing that went through my mind was this more than one person or is it more than one. Obviously as the moments went on it appeared it was more than one person. It was a very frightening situation because there are thousands if people in the downtown.”

He said an emergency response plan kicked into gear.

Police cars and emergency vehicles were clustered at the foot of the Peace Tower and the Centre Block was evacuated. RCMP warned that anyone in downtown Ottawa should stay away from windows and roofs.

Police set up an ever-expanding cordon around the Hill, shutting down streets and pushing pedestrians and journalists further back as additional police vehicles and officers flooded into the scene. A police command post was set on Metcalfe St. across from Parliament Hill.

Tens of thousands of public servants in buildings around Ottawa and across the river in Gatineau, Que., were told to stay where they are.

Witness Alain Merizier said one suspect was carrying a hunting rifle. The suspect had dark hair, was wearing civilian clothes and driving a black car, Merizier said.

Reporters and parliamentary staff reported dozens of shots in the hallways. It was caucus day for the federal parties, so members of Parliament and senators were locked down in the hallways near the Commons.

Spokespeople for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said all were safe and in secure locations.

Joshua Johnston, co-owner of Atwill-Morin, a stone masonry company, was being hailed as a hero after he shepherded as many as 25 Parliament Hill workers to safety.

“One woman froze, some were infirm and didn’t move very quickly, but ultimately they listened and it went smoothly,” Johnston said.

One woman opened a window and punched out a screen and was prepared to jump nine metres before Johnston and co-workers built a rudimentary scaffold and carried her to safety.

With as many as six police sharpshooters massed outside, they clambered to safety and took shelter behind rocks.

“We didn’t know where (the shooter) was or how many there were there,” he said.

“But it sounded like he was just down the hall.”

Toronto Liberal MP John McKay had arrived for morning caucus in Centre Block when he heard shots. Security staff evacuated the group to the rear of the building where they took shelter behind a monument.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

There he met an employee from the Library of Parliament who related how she a gunman outside the library in Centre Block. She said he was wearing a hoodie and had what appeared to be a gun.

He was in the corridor containing the meeting rooms where Harper was meeting with his caucus on one side and the NDP meeting on the other.

New Democrat MP Charlie Angus said he and his colleagues heard several rounds of heavy gunfire he said sounded as if it was coming from right outside the door.

Angus said MPs and staffers tried to barricade the door with tables and lay down on the floor as they heard what he said was at least two rounds of gunshots followed by another few shots.

“People put up furniture. We put tables against the door. We lay down. You’ve never been through this before. You don’t know what the routine is other than what you have seen in the movies, so we didn’t know if someone was going to be able to try and get in,” Angus said.

“We were on the floor and then security came and they were very, very, very serious,” Angus said by telephone from his office on Sparks St., after having evacuated the building.

“They told us to run, to stay down and to stay along the walls,” Angus said.

NDP MP Craig Scott also described hearing two bursts of rapid-fire shots just outside the caucus room.

“It sounded like it was literally on the other side of the wall where I was sitting at the back of the room,” Scott said Wednesday.

“I grabbed a table to barricade one of the three doors leading into our room and a colleague (NDP MP Hoang Mai) and I stood to either side of the door, so as not to be shot through the door to reinforce the table if it got pushed from the outside,” Scott said, adding that NDP MP Nathan Cullen was doing the same at another door.

He said other MPs were hiding under tables.

Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott says his staff was told by Commons security there were as many as three gunmen.

Vellacott was escorting a group of parents and children through security one floor below main entrance when he heard a gunshot.

Security staff quickly hustled the group out of the building through a tunnel to East Block. He said several of the group remain under lockdown in East Block.

A shaken Marc-Andre Viau, spokesperson for the NDP, saw the suspect run into the main doors of Centre Block, chased by a Mountie. Soon after he heard a volley of shots from inside the building.

“As soon as the police officer walked in, there were a lot of shots, multiple shots fired. There was a pause then I heard another round of shots,” Viau said.

He was just outside the building at the time and a police officer had just told people to take cover. That’s when he saw the suspect run by.

The incident comes just two days after two Canadian soldiers were run over — and one of them killed — in Quebec by a man with jihadist sympathies.

The incident on Parliament Hill was an unprecedented breach of security, according to eyewitnesses.

The White House said Wednesday afternoon that President Barack Obama had spoken to Harper by telephone “to express the American people’s solidarity with Canada” following the attacks on Canadian soldiers both Wednesday in Ottawa on Monday in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que.

“President Obama condemned these outrageous attacks, and reaffirmed the close friendship and alliance between our people. The president offered any assistance Canada needed in responding to these attacks. Prime Minister Harper thanked the president and the two leaders discussed the assault and agreed to continue coordination between our governments moving forward,” the White House said in a statement.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said they have increased patrols around Parliament House and at the Canadian High Commission.

Gov. General David Johnston said he and his wife, Sharon, were “shocked and deeply saddened” to learn of the attacks.

“At this most difficult time, we wish to express our deepest sympathies to the family of the Canadian Armed Forces member who was killed in this crisis. Our thoughts and prayers also go out to those who were injured today,” Johnston said in the statement issued Wednesday.

“As governor general and commander-in-chief of Canada, I am grateful for the professionalism and courage of our security personnel and emergency responders,” he said.

More on thestar.com:

Cpl. Nathan Cirillo of Hamilton identified as soldier gunned down in Ottawa attack

Soldier dead after shooting at War Memorial in Ottawa, police confirm

Chief Bill Blair says Toronto to beef up police presence

Read more about: