I WANT TO EAT A NUT OF LAERMA!

OH MAN...

I turn on Rush Limbaugh halfway through his show and what's the first thing I hear him mention?

Students being shot at Dawson College in Montreal, which is the CEGEP I attended from 1996 to 1998 (damn, I started a decade ago now?).

From what I gather from Newsworld reports, these shootings took place in the atrium cafeteria, which is on the ground level, though the level above the Metro level which is why some people say the second floor, to the west of the two storey atrium. It's an area enclosed by walls on three sides, with only one major way in or out (though there probably are some fire exits that I don't remember offhand). The atrium itself has some openings looking down to the Metro level, which would be good for sniping, though they couldn't actually shoot towards the Atwater Metro from that vantage point as there's a double-right-angle hallway between Dawson and the Metro station.

Montreal police are saying that 3 people have been critically-injured, and there might be more than one gunmen.

EDIT: Dawson College staff member Arielle Reid is telling Dawson students to go to Concordia University's Hall Building at 1455 DeMaisonneuve W. and to look for anyone in a "STAFF" shirt.

The shooter may have fled to Plaza Alexis-Nihon mall, connected to Dawson via Atwater Metro, after the shooting, and might have shot himself.

From what I hear, this guy was a goth "Trenchcoat Mafia" Eric Harris/Dylan Klebold wannabe, dressed in a black trenchcoat, boots, and studs. I hope we don't go through another "ban violent videogames/cartoon" cycle here in Canada because of this.

EDIT II: It's currently the top story on newsbreaks on KOGO, the San Diego radio station whose live streaming feed I listen to to hear Rush Limbaugh, and local San Diego hosts Mark Larson and Roger Hedgecock after Rush.

EDIT III: RDI, the French version of Newsworld, is saying that there were two shooters, and they're now both dead, one from suicide and the other shot by cops.

EDIT IV: Newsworld is saying 4 dead, though it's unclear whether or not that includes the shooters, and the police have surrounded some kind of building a few blocks west on DeMaisonneuve.

EDIT V: Now Don Neuman has seditionist Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe talking about the boondoggle gun registry, even though the weapons used were clearly automatic weapons already illegal in Canada. Also, Dawson is an anglophone CEGEP, so you'd think Duceppe... nah, I better not "go there".

EDIT VI: Now San Diego radio talk show host Mark Larson said something sure to infuriate the Heidi Rathjen gun control types, that if Dawson College students were allowed to "pack heat" for self-defense, the shooters could have been put down before they did much damage. Don't get mad at me, Mark Larson said it, not me (though I agree with him).

EDIT VII: Yeah, if you're going to be shot in Montreal, Dawson College is the place to be as you're close to two hospitals, Montreal General just above the top of Atwater on the westernmost slopes of Mount Royal (a building which I remember staring at and doodling sketches of in my notebook during one particularly boring class) and Montreal Children's Hospital, just south of Cabot Square, only two blocks south of Dawson on Atwater.

The Children's Hospital is the large building seen in the background of this photo I took in 2003.



Weirdly, I don't have any good shots of Dawson College in my photo archives.

posted by Steve Brandon @ 5:48 PM