for now, we are now going to speak to josh wingrove who is a reporter from the globe and mail. he is also not far from the parliament building. josh, tell us about what has been happening in the last half hour or so there, what you have seen as far as police activity. >> yeah, so right now we are still in lock down in the main parliament building here in ottawa, this ordeal happened just over two hours ago. it's not a lot of information in the building, i am sorry. >> so you are inside the building, josh? >> i am, yes, there is some shouting that we were listening to. there is gunfire that came sort of in the main for yea foyer ofe building shortly before 10:00 a.m. this is a time when most of the m.p.s would have been in the building for the weekly caucus meetings, a time when it's pretty busy with m.p.s, staff,

journal assists, there was a lot of gunfire in sort of the main foyer area. down a hallway. and led to a second sort of a bunch of gunfire it looked like a shootout that left one body on the ground that i saw, i cannot say whether it was a shooter. it seemed like it was. and all the police i should say were shooting at that direction. we have heard reports since it was the shooter that was down by the actual sergeant of arms who is in charge of security here. this appears to be, -- again it's a lock down in the building, this is one of three shootings in central ottawa today. one nearby at a war memorial and another at a near mall, s nearbs very fast breaking and hard to put in to words, it was chaos here. >> indeed. you say it's chaos, is that the

case inside the building itself, josh, where you are? are there a lot of people? >> i mean, now it's sorts of eerily calm. they have searched the building, several buildings are on lock down, several buildings in downtown ottawa are being evacuated. people are being told to stay away from windows. of course two hours ago when the gunfire was in this building, it was madness. a lot of security naturally in the building itself. sort of an otherwise sleepy, kind of chilly fall morning. and that -- it was a security guard that looked like downed what appeared to be some sort of shooter, some sort of gunman, but of course other tactical officers supporting since, we remain on lock down -- >> where are you exactly inside the building, josh? your? is everyone huddled together or people just spread across the building? i am just trying to imagine what it's like inside right now.

>> yeah, i mean, it's a bi -- is a massive building, with lots of hallways and entrances and exits and staircases and so we are here in one corner keeping way from windows. at the suggestion of security. and you know, we haven't really had official word. all we have to go on is what we saw a couple of hours ago. >> is there -- are there police inside the building, josh? is there any sort of security inside the building? >> there are. like i say, there is security 24/7 around here, obviously there is more security now after what transpired this morning. outside the window i can see police cars, you know, surrounding parliament, quite a bit of the downtown core in some sort of lock down and is not able to move. there is reports of maybe a gunman being on a roof or high up in a building, which i imagine is why we are being kept

in this building, the police in this building are searching it with guns drawn. it's a very fluid situation as i say. >> okay, josh, thank you so much for speaking to us from inside canada's parliament building. josh a reporter with canada's globe and mail talking about the scene in the last few years. it's now gone past 12 noon in ottawa, canada. 16:04 gmt. and you continue to watch breaking news on al jazerra of an unfolding situation in canada. we are going to bring you up-to-date with what we know so far that's been happening in ottawa. let's just show you the live pictures first from canada's capital where just a few hours ago a gunman is said to have shot and wounded a soldier who was standing guard, the city's national war memorial. the attacker, is then said to have entered the parliament building, where several shots

were also fired. canadian media is saying one shooter has been killed inside the parliament while police are searching for one or more other suspects. now, we are going to show you video now that we received just a few minutes ago from inside the parliament building, capturing the moment that exchange of heavy gunfire broke out. let's take a listen. [ gunshots ] >> so quite a terrifying scene as you can see there. lots of gunshots heard inside the parliament building. police rushing inside the building. not clear whether the suspect that they shot, that is said to

have been shot by police was actually the one being sought when we look at these pictures but an unfolding situation, a tense situation in canada's capital wednesday. let's look at the map of central ottawa and have been idea where all this is happening. the national war memorial is where the soldier was shot at is very close to the parliament building wit where further shots were held. shots heard in the parliament building as we missioned but first began at the war memorial. kim berg is witkimberly is withg the situation. kim well, i just want to bring up what josh the reporter from the globe and mail who spoke to us said a few minutes ago, he said this was actually the third incident today in ottawa, that there were reports of shots being fired outside a mall. did you hear anything about this at all?

>> i can provide a little bit of clarity and context as we try to sort out which is still a an unfolding situation. there are two malls close to the parliament building. there is a tha traditional shopg mall and also a pedestrian mall known as the sparks pedestrian mall, a historic area. it's not clear when we are referring to a mall where these reports of shots fired may taken place. i can tell you that the traditional shopping mall is saying that it has not had any incident there. that is something that they have lease odd social media so, again, this is something that's unfolding in front of us, and so there are going to be obviously many people who are nerve us and scared and hearing gunfire maybe not familiar with what that sounds like and maybe reporting it's occurring close to them. when, in fact, they don't have a full understanding. >> right. >> this is something is being sorted out by the police and is still very unclear, but, yes,

there have been reports of shots fired in multiple locations, we are unable to confirm the additional locations at this time. >> talk to us more about the area, of course we have the google map there showing where the war memorial is, where the parliament building s but tell us about, you know, whether it's a busy area of ottawa. how densely populated is it? are there a lot of people at this time during the day in ottawa? >> yeah. if you want to put that back up on the screen it would allow knee refer to it. >> yes. >> but what i can tell you because it's a city that i am quite familiar with, my family lives just outside the on the watch. so i do visit there from time to time. this is a -- not a densely populated area that we are looking at, but it's densely populated during the day. because this is the downtown core. you can see the picture there of the canadian parliament and just across from there, you can see a number of office to you, he these would be buildings where federal workers are working. but also not just federal offices, it's also where a number of canadian businesses would have their headquarters or

key offices because this is sort of the center of where canadian decision making is made when it comes to a number of business decisions, policy dissensions, so that is what you are looking at right there. and you can see those two joel squares, that first square on the lower right-hand side of our screen is the war memorial where there was a security presence, there was, in fact, a canadian soldier in uniform guard that go nell oguarding that memorial, she was shot, well, i don't know the gender a soldier was shot. we were told by bystanders in the area, this is a busy area, especially on a weekday, they were the face attend to that individuals wounds, he or she has since been transported for hospital, i can tell you in terms of how concentrated the area was, given it was a weekday, the start i've workday, people would be settling in to their offices after a morning rush hour, so the streets would certainly not be empty. in fact, you would have a number of workers heading to work you

would also have a number of tourists who may be heading to the parliament buildings to visit the symbol of canadian democracy. and really being encountered with something that is unmanageable to most canadians, that is multiple shots being fired at least one person down and now an unfolding situation where the surrounding buildings are being searched to make sure that there is no additional threat in terms of a second or third shooter. >> right. and ottawa police are said to be investigating now gunshots in several places, including the national war memorial. the parliament building and a nearby mall as yo you mentioned, kimberly but all of this is happening in the same area of the city, of course. i believe we can now speak to bill cavanagh who is a parliamentary staffer. his father is an m.p. who was moved to safety i understand. bill, thank you very much for speaking to us. can you tell us what you know.

and what your father has told you about the situation. >> yeah. well, right now we are located, me and my colleagues are located here on the prestin precinct ane told stay in our offices and away from the windows with the doors locked, we have been told not to open the doors. as far as details from the parliamentary precinct, we haven't been given any. [ inaudible ] besides to stay in our offices. >> so just to clarify, bill, are you inside the building yourself? >> yes. we are. some people have been evacuated including members of parliament i am in contact with a number of members of parliament. as far as i know, all members of parliament have been moved to an undisclosed location on

parliament hill. there are other staffers in various buildings on parliament hill. some of which have been evacuated off the precinct but some still remain in irrelevant a offices and like i just described they are being asked to stay in their offices with the doors closed, locked and not to open them under any circumstances. >> do you get a sense or are you aware of whether police are actually looking for someone inside the building? >> i don't have any firsthand knowledge but discussing with colleagues there have been police in the building, the news immediatmedia have reported and confirmed that the sergeant at arms for parliament has shot somebody inside the building who was firing shots. and that is consistent with around the same time that myself

and colleagues heard, you know, loud noises and shouting outside our office. >> okay, thank you so much for speaking to us, bilker parliament are you staffer on the line from ottawa. he's inside the building telling us that they have been told to stay behind closed doors. some members of parliament have been evacuated to a safer location, undisclosed location bill was telling us there, bill. bilker thank you so much for speaking to us, let's speak to our toronto-based producer joining us on the line, shocking screened for canadians, i imagine. this is very, very unusual for canada. tell us about what the reaction has been, what's being said in the media about this incident in ottawa. >> i think there is general incredible shock and surprise at this unpress differented evented unfolding in ottawa.

this comes on the heels of news yesterday that canada had raised its terror threat level for the first time in four years and on monday, monday we have an incidents in quebec where a quebec man used his kara car asa weapon and allegedly used his karas a weapon. and there by hit two soldiers one of since has died. the man was radicalized. i don't think anybody is watching this without thinking how could this happen here? >> right. >> obviously security will be raised in all other ca tha canan cities, the terror left was raised to medium. are people worry about this at all? >> i think up until perhaps today people weren't really

worried. this is something that has been discussed in parliament by the minute officer and carper, and this has been mentioned. i think a lot of people were sort of -- they were sort of aware of it. don't forget that it was just recently that canada voted to join the mission to battle isis in the middle east, people are slowly but surely waking up to it. especially today. like i go ahead the events earlier this week with the event in quebec with the threat raise odd tuesday, i think a lot of people may be rethinking about actually what the threat is at that to canadians here and where the threat is coming from. still a lot of unanswered questions. >> indeed. a lot of unanswered questions, thank you so much for now. kimberly is also with us monitoring the situation from washington. this is an unfolding situation,

still a lot that we don't know. but already a lot of questions, i moon, as far as viewers are concerned. first of all on security, the parliament building people are going to ask how is it that a gunman was able to make it in to canada's parliament. and shoot a society year, security was supposed to be tight, how could this happen? >> you are right being that is a question that will be investigated. but it is our understanding, this is coming from a number of credible reports including reporters tweeting on social media. it was the sergeant in arms who was in charge of security inside parliament hill perhaps is the one that was able to take down the shooter as soon as he penetrated that perimeter of security, so when you say that, in fact, how did this happen that he was -- he or she this

alleged shooter was able to get inside, yes, there is going to be some question about that, having said that, the security did seem to stop that individual once they traveled deeper in to the parliament building. so this is a situation that is still unfolding. and there are obviously going to be concerned given the that there was one canadian soldier doing security that was struck. but it seemed that once it got to that second or third player of security that, it did seem to work. >> all right. let's speak to rob -- bob richardson now. who is the executive vice president at public affairs, from the public affairs firm edelman. thank you so much for being with us. it's early days, of course. we don't know what is happening here, how this is going to end because clearly there is still something happening, it's an active situation. but let's talk about the political ramifications here, because i know this is what you specialize in.

what are going to be the political consequences here after this? >> quell, i think everybody has felt very safe in the parliament precinct, i used to work there myself and go to the building regularly, it's considered a very, very safe building with good security. so obviously this is a very major breach. and many of us that frequent the building regularly find it difficult to understand how somebody with an automatic weapon could be on parliament hill let alone in the building itself. so obviously there will have to be a major investigation here. but this is certainly not a regular occurrence and security is usually quite excellent on parliament hill. >> not a regular occurrence in canada, of course, but the terror threat level had been raiseeraiseed from medium to --d from medium to low.

you wonder how a gunman ca go for the war them or quill site in to the parliament building. >> and there is quite a distance between the war memorial and parliament building. so how somebody could do that is quite astonishing, so there will be a lot of questions that will have to be answered here, there is no evidence at this point that it is a terrorist attack. there has been no evidence that has suggested that either by journalistses or by officials. s we'll have to wait and see what the investigation conclud concludes. on obviously their number one goal right now is to make sure that everybody is safe in the parliament. precinct and surround surrounding neighborhoods. >> of course ill be asking you to speculate here, but do you see a link between this and perhaps canada joining the international coalition to fight begins isil. >> there is certainly without a doubt that is a possibility. there has been threats made against canada, and against other countries that are

participating in the coalition opposed to isil so that's obviously something that has been looked at and investigated. there is no prim prima facia eve to suggest that at the moment. but there was an attack yesterday in montreal on one of our soldiers and obviously this comes on the heels of that. so that has to raise the security concerns and the terrorism concerns for our police and for our security services. >> had there been political support across the spectrum to join this international coalition? was it difficult for the prime minister steve harper to convince -- to con defense politician to his this idea of joining the coalition? >> already there wasn't unanimous support in parliament. two of the opposition parties opposed it. there was broad support in terms of public opinion. and once the vetoed cured in

parliament, both parties are supportive of the mission and our soldiers abroad. it hasn't been a huge, heated political issue here in canada. the polls are supportive of the prime minister decision to be part of the coalition against isil. >> thank you very much for speaking to us here. let's now bring in -- do we have our next guest? yes, let's bring in our next guest veronica kitchen associate professor of political science at the university of waterloo studying counter terrorism and international security joining us from toronto. thank you very much for being with us, veronica. one of the senators that we spoke to who was inside the parliament building, about an hour or so ago, described this as a terrorist act. what do you make of what is happening here? is this the case do you think?

>> i think it's difficult to say whether it's a terrorist attack. if we mean an attack that is inspired by a particular radical ideology. i just don't think that we have that detail yet. certainly it is unprecedented, large scale attack on downtown ottawa and on the canadian parliament. that's not clear whether it's coordinated yet, but certainly it's worrisome. >> also this is the second attack, if you will, against the armed forces, against soldiers, there was the incident two days ago in quebec where one soldier died. as you say, shock to go canadians. was there a particular threat against armed fors, against soldiers? >> -- armed forces, against soldiers? >> with therfrom what we have h, there was no imminent threat.

but this kind of attack like the one we saw in quebec three days ago is extremely hard to predict. that individual is an individual that the intelligence services had had on their radar since june and had been in contact with. and he had not done anything that would have warranted them arresting him for incidents, so this kind of an attack is difficult to predict. that said, there has been similar attacks in the u.k. and in other countries on members of the armed forces. and we know that canadian security agencies had been monitoring those attacks and have been considering the possibility of attacks on canadian members of the armed forces. >> but as you say extremely rare to see some pictures coming out of canada. you mentioned the u.k. there have been attacks on armed forces, attacks in the united states, shootings in the united states, but canada is very rare. how do you think this will affect the psyche of the nation?

how will people be reacting in the coming days? >> i hope they will react by continuing to go about their business. by coming out of buildings on lock down in to downtown toron toronto. sorry, downtown ottawa. you know, it's the middle of the week parliament chile busy place and i hope they return to their business. attacks like this are very rare, at the moment we don't know if the attack two days ago in i quebec and this attack are connected. i don't think people should retreat from their lives. now the canadian armed forces have shutdown all military installation in the country which i think is certainly appropriate in the short-term. we will i am sure see like lynn creased security in military inning station laz iinstallatiog

days. >> thank you for your time. as we continue to watch live pictures in canada. oh, we have lost them. hopefully we'll get back those pictures to you. live picture pictures from otta, canada. where, again, if you are just joining us on al jazerra, at least one gunman is said to have fired several shots at the ottawa war memorial rounding one soldier reportedly. police are said to be looking for one or more suspects. now, earlier we spoke to josh wingrove wh who is a reporting h the globe and mail and he spoke to us while he was inside the parliament building. here is what he told us was happening in there. >> there was gunfire that came sort of in the main foyer of the building shortly before 10:00 a.m. this is the time when all of the

m. ps or most of the million dollarm.p.swould have been in tg a time when the building is pretty busy with m.p.s, journalists, staff, there's lot of gunfire in the main foyer area and moved down a hallway. and led to a second sort of shootout that left one body on the ground that i saw. i could not -- i cannot say for sure whether it was the shooter. it certainly seemed like it was and all the police were shooting at that direction. we have heard reports since that it was the suspect that was downed by the sergeant of arms. there is a lock down in the building it's a very active, and fluid situation, it could be one of three shootings in central ottawa today, one nearby at a war memorial and another at a nearby ball, it was chaos here.

several buildings on lock down, several buildings have been evacuated. people are being told to stay away from windows. >> so as you heard from the reporter that we were speaking to earlier, that apparently police in ottawa investigating now three shootings that happened in the same vicinity of the memorial, of course, as mentioned, inside the par almost building and reportedly at one of the malls which is nearby. tom ackerman is live from washington, d.c. from our bureau in d washington, d.c. monitoring the events. what are you hearing first of all about the three incidents that the police are said to be investigating. >> well, the latest is that the general manager of that small, has denied over his own twitter feed that there were shots inside the mall. it's not clear whether there was any shooting anywhere else. so right now we can only confirm

that they were shooting in two locations as we not video earlier it is confirmed that the gunman who is now confirmed killed inside the building was shot by a sergeant at arms of the house of commons. the shooting occurred in the center block in or around the center block which is the main area of legislate i have activity for the canadian parliament. the video that we have been viewing those shots that you heard was an exchange of fire or at least shots from the law enforcement officer. a sergeant at arms is not a -- typically a uniformed member of the police. this could have been someone in civilian cloth, we don't know. his name has been mentioned by canadian media, kevin vickers is his name. and now he's become sort of a national hero, judging by the immediate responses that we are

seeing on social media inside canada. again, prime minister stephen harper was wisked away from his office which is only a few blocks from the parliament building, from parliament hill. we may be able to see his office located on that google earth map that we were viewing, we were screening a few minutes ago, sources say that he was out of his office. in fact, he is scheduled to be in toronto today, we don't know if that schedule has been canceled to present honorary citizenship to malala, the pakistani girl who has recently awarded the nobel peace prize, so he was not expected to be in ottawa for the rest of the day. there is no indication whether at all there was any intention to target the prime minister. right now all we snow that people are still in lock down inside the parliament building. and the local authorities have

warned -- have told everybody in the entire downtown area, including the university of ottawa, all of the shopping mall -- all the shopping district and all of the office buildings to stay inside. so you are seeing pretty much the only activity outside are police in the entire downtown area. >> sure. and this is a shooting as we have been saying, tom, that comes just two days after a man attacked two canadian soldiers in quebec. and one of those soldiers died from his injuries. the suspect in that incidents was shot and killed by police. i imagine it's too early to know whether there is a link between what happened in quebec two das ago and what's happening in ottawa today. >> well, when the canadian authorities elevated their threat level from low to medium. and here i am quoting, the rational was intelligence has indicated that