Cdn-Firearms Digest Friday, September 5 2008 Volume 12 : Number 076 In this issue: DAWSON COLLEGE SHOOTING Gunman was ready to kill his parents ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, September 5, 2008 12:24 pm From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 2" Subject: DAWSON COLLEGE SHOOTING Gunman was ready to kill his parents PUBLICATION: GLOBE AND MAIL DATE: 2008.09.05 PAGE: A9 BYLINE: INGRID PERITZ SECTION: National News EDITION: Metro DATELINE: Montreal PQ WORDS: 667 - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- DAWSON COLLEGE SHOOTING Gunman was ready to kill his parents Man who opened fire was mentally troubled for years, coroner reveals, but still able to obtain weapons legally - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brooding, boozed up and living as a violence-obsessed recluse, Kimveer Gill was so intent on carrying out his shooting rampage at Dawson College that he was prepared to kill his parents if they unearthed his plans, a coroner disclosed yesterday. A chilling portrait of the gunman revealed he was depressed and psychologically troubled for years preceding the 2006 assault, but was nonetheless able to legally amass his weaponry. Mr. Gill killed one student and wounded 16 others two years ago this month. Jacques Ramsay's report into the tragedy suggests Mr. Gill had shown signs of mental distress for years. In 2004, he consulted a doctor and psychologist for depression and suicidal thoughts. He had up to seven drinks a day to help his anxiety. In the months leading to the shooting, the 25-year-old began to live as a virtual recluse in his parents' home, spending his nights in front of his computer, listening to heavy-metal music and speaking to almost no one. Notes recovered from his computer show he grew increasingly secretive and concerned his Dawson plot would be exposed. He wrote that if his parents discovered the plan and tried to stop him, he would have to "eliminate" them, the coroner said. In fact, aside from Internet users who read Mr. Gill's blog, no one could have foreseen the attack, including his parents, Dr. Ramsay concluded. "The people who were around Kimveer Gill never saw it coming, that's very clear to me," the coroner told a news conference. "The family, in their wildest dreams, did not believe this would happen." As a result, he said, such tragedies cannot be truly prevented. "Can we mitigate it? It's not easy. There is no simple answer," he said, adding he does not want schools to start adopting a "bunker mentality." Dr. Ramsay called for Canada to ban the kind of semi-automatic weapon Mr. Gill used in his assault, and to give health professionals greater access to gun registries while protecting citizen privacy. He said guns like the Beretta CX4 Storm rifle Mr. Gill used are light, accurate and easy to handle, and should be banned. Dr. Ramsay also questioned the effectiveness of Canada's firearms screening process, since Mr. Gill did not disclose his mental state when applying for a firearms permit. Still, the investigation was unable to shed light on why Mr. Gill, who lived on a quiet street in a suburb north of Montreal with his parents and brother, picked Dawson in downtown Montreal as his target. He had two other junior colleges and four universities in his sights. He had originally planned to carry out his attack to coincide with the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Colorado. The coroner praised the police's handling of the crisis, saying they had to make split-second decisions in a school crowded with panicked students. Among his recommendations, he said Montreal police officers should be given access to long-range weapons such as rifles, which would be kept in their patrol cars or with supervisors, since those weapons have more precision than handguns. The coroner's investigation found that Mr. Gill managed to fire his rifle 72 times and his handgun six times during his deadly assault. A police bullet struck Mr. Gill in the elbow, but it was a bullet from his own gun that ended his life. Two police officers fired their weapons six times between them. The coroner said Anastasia De Sousa, 18, was shot 10 times but likely was fatally wounded by the gunman's first bullet. "I believe that she died quite quickly, in the first minute." New provincial gun-control legislation known as Anastasia's Law bans possession of firearms in schools and daycare centres and on public and school transportation, and requires health professionals to report patients showing high-risk behaviour. Gun clubs are required to keep a registry of all those who use their firing ranges. The law took effect Monday. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080905.DAWSON05/TPStory/?query=INGRID+PERITZ+ - -drgj ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V12 #76 ********************************** Submissions: mailto:cdn-firearms-digest@scorpion.bogend.ca Mailing List Commands: mailto:majordomo@scorpion.bogend.ca Moderator's e-mail address: mailto:drg.jordan@sasktel.net List owner: mailto:owner-cdn-firearms@scorpion.bogend.ca FAQ list: http://www.canfirearms/Skeeter/Faq/cfd-faq1.html Web Site: http://www.canfirearms.ca CFDigest Archives: http://www.canfirearms.ca/archives To unsubscribe from _all_ the lists, put the next four lines in a message and mailto:majordomo@scorpion.bogend.ca unsubscribe cdn-firearms-digest unsubscribe cdn-firearms-chat unsubscribe cdn-firearms end (To subscribe, use "subscribe" instead of "unsubscribe".)