Shooting on Parliament Hill: What CBC's raw camera footage shows
3 CBC/Radio-Canada camera crews on Parliament Hill as shots rang out
On the morning a gunman ran in the front door of Parliament Hill's Centre Block, CBC/Radio-Canada had assigned three televisioncrews to cover thearrival of MPs and Senators to weekly party caucus meetings.
When shots rang out, news instincts kicked in and they started recording.
- Terry Milewski: Reconstructing the Centre Block shootout
- WATCH: 3 cameras, 3 videos reveal how the shooting unfolded
The lenses and microphones of JeanBrousseauand MartinBlais, Mike dePauland DannyLeduc, and Yves Levesque became our eyes and ears, witnessing a scarychapter in Canadian parliamentary history.
Thefootage, some of it not yet broadcast, is a real-time record as the emergency unfolded.
Throughout, the television crews, other journalists and security guards talk to each other, expressing shock, fear and confusion.
What to watch for
- The shooting itself is not visibleon tape, but all three cameras recorded audio of gunshots. On the Brousseau tape,shot closest to the action, you can hear yelling, then a single shot, then a pause, then another single shot, then another pause, then a lot of yelling, then another single shot, a pause and then a barrage of gunfire. Although the hallway has many echoes, the single shots sound different from the barrage. It's possible, based onwhat's been revealed about the gunman's weapon and how many bullets he would have had left after a confrontation at the front doorthat left one officer injured, that the single shots are from the gunman's weapon, but further investigation would be required to confirm this.
- On the Levesque tape from one floor below, there's some soundand yelling suggesting a reaction to the initial exchange of gunfire closer to the front door, and then a longer gapbefore everyone reacts to the sounds of more gunfire upstairs in the Hall of Honour. This may givean indication of the passage of time as the shooter moved down the hall.
- Globe and MailreporterJoshWingrove, who was in the hallway andshot the scene on his smart phone, appears several times, but most significantlyat 2:02 and 10:44. He'swearing a blue wind breakerand can be seen walking down the middle of Hall of Honour after the shooter and later towards the House of Commons foyer, with guards shouting athim. Elsewhere, you can hear him on his phone,describing what happened.
- Time elapses between the security breach at the front door and the point where security personnel can be heard yelling "lock the doors" to prevent anyonefrom entering or leaving.At other times, confusion ensues as TV crews ask where they should go and it's unclear how the building should be evacuated.
- Stephen Harper tellsMPshe's 'sorry' he left during attack
- The face-to-face encounter that ended the attack on Parliament Hill
- 15 minutes of terror in the Conservative caucus room
- Parliament Hill security confusion leftMPslocked out
From normal to terrifying in seconds
The morning had started like any other caucus day.
Conservatives and New Democrats met in large committee rooms across from each other in the centralHall of Honour. Liberals metin a smaller room on the first level.
- Jean Brousseau describes what it was like to film the shooting
- Gunman's movements caught on video, but security questions remain
- Where did Zehaf-Bibeau get his gun?
- Ottawa shooting: More coverage from CBC News
Reporters scrummedMPsand senators on their way in. Then the meetings began normally a time for journalists to pause and regroup.
None of the cameras were rolling at the precise instant the gunman entered the building. All three operators hit the record buttonwhen they realized something unusual was happening.That's where this footage begins.
The only cut we've made isa five-minute section from dePaul's tapethat showed MPs and journalists standing by an entranceon the west side of the building.