Ottawa shooting: Reconstructing the Centre Block shootout

From Jean Brousseau's point of view, it was gunfire and chaos, and then ... nothing. Seconds ticked by, and nobody fired.

A full minute ticked by ... and then, deafening chaos again.

ButBrousseauknew to take cover.

• WATCH: More of CBC's raw footage, and what we learn from it

Hunkering down in a small alcove with soundman Martin Blais, he stuck an arm out to punch the button and start his camera rolling. What he saw tells a story.

'Drop the gun!'

Scenes from the Parliament Hill shooting

10 years ago

Duration 5:17

CBC/Radio-Canada cameras witness a scary chapter in Canadian parliamentary history. Producer: Chris Rands (Viewer discretion is advised.)

Clearly, Zehaf-Bibeau didn't drop it. Seconds later, two loud shots boom out but it's not clear who fired them. We can't tell if Zehaf-Bibeau was hit.

Brousseau's lens is pointed across the empty hallway. He steadies the camera as time ticks by.

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Brousseau steadies his camera for a better view. Finally, 45 seconds after that second shot, some Mounties appear, cautiously advancing down the hallway with their guns drawn. They know they are going towards danger but urge each other on: "Go! Go! Go!"

Single shots followed by barrage

But a cameraman is a cameraman. Brousseau edges his camera forward to peer down the hall. By now, just over a minute has elapsed since that second shot. Then, one loud report is heard perhaps the rifle? followed immediately by the pop-pop-pop of a semi-automatic pistol.

Six, seven, eight at least a dozen rapid-fire shots before there are so many shots simultaneously that you can't count. Thirty, perhaps, before it's all over.

Moments later, the CBC's Mike dePaul spots Vickers with gun in hand, walking calmly down the hall to report to terrified MPs that it's okay, "I put him down."

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Vickers himself insisted on sharing the credit singling out the wounded guard, Samearn Son. So where is this unsung hero and why don't Canadians know more about him?

'Where do we go?'

Downstairs when the shooting began, another CBC veteran, Yves Levesque, also started rolling as soon as he heard shots. For the first few seconds, people seem not to register the sound, going about their business. Moments later, there's panic.

Caught in the hallway, Liberal MP Judy Sgro darts this way, then that; nobody knows where to go.

Levesque keeps rolling as he runs down a hallway towards the MPs' entrance to the House of Commons.

"Where do we go?" someone asks. Nobody answers. Guards there don't seem to be learning much from their radios.

One says he can't tell whether the shots are from inside or outside.

There, a wounded security guard is kneeling on the sidewalk. It's Samearn Son, who has stumbled out of the building, nursing his leg.

Someone asks, "Are you OK?"

Watch more of CBC's raw footage:

RAW: CBC's Parliament Hill shooting footage

10 years ago

Duration 23:02

On the morning a gunman ran right in the front door of Parliament Hill's Centre Block, 3 CBC/Radio-Canada camera crews were inside. Here's their footage, packaged by CBC producer Chris Rands. (Viewer discretion is advised.)