i was talking to paula newton about. part of the narrative is this hero on twitter from a number of mps on parliament hill, kevin vickers. we have a photo for him. for people not familiar with the duties of a sergeant at arms, tells me what exactly he does. >> he's a ceremonial role. tradition. he fits into that. he's looking out for the processions of quasi military guard who make their way through parliament every day and doing other functions but he's also head of security here and someone who works in this building every day, i can't say that i have spoken to him but i have spoken to every security guard that works here and these guys are the first line of defense but also the installations of the building. i can tell you most of them in fact are armed. there are few that are not. that does raise a question of how he got in and how he got passed that security. but those are questions that will need answered in the coming days. >> we're getting a clear picture of the situation there in ottawa as far as who is armed an

. >> i want to bring in cnn's paula newton. she knows the area very well. you know this parliament hill where the national war memorial is and you heard one of the canadian reporters tell us a few minutes ago, paula, that there was concern that one of the shooters may still be at large at this shopping mall in downtown ottawa. set the scene for us. >> the shopping mall is, of kourks still in lockdown. that entire core is in lockdown. they were saying that there's several gunmen and that means that they cannot be sure of what exactly is going on. i have to tell you, wolf, from the security situation on capitol hill, and there will be lots of questions as to how this happened, the initial gunman, when they had the shooting in front of the war memorial, they charged at those front doors. there is no security at those front doors in terms of there being a barrier. there's a lot of personnel there. some of them are armed. that's how he was able to get into the building. and that is why there are two levels of security. and while this was going on in parliament hi

on the phone with me right now is cnn canadian correspondent paula newton whose husband is in the diplomatic core and was in ottawa when it happened. what more do you know, paula? >> well, i do know that all government buildings in the area remain on lockdown. my husband is quite far. you're talking about a mile or two from these buildings. but right now, they do not know how many gunmen are still out there and it seems, ashleigh, what police are investigating are simultaneous shootings. if i can map this out, you have the parliament building. after that, about a short five-minute walk in one direction you have a mall. they are investigating another shooting near that mall. in the other direction, the downtown core, they are investigating possibly another shooting near a hotel. as you can see from the picture, all of these are within walking distance but the problem right now, ashleigh, is they do not know how many gunmen are in the downtown core and there are so many government buildings in this area. they have no idea who else may be targeted or who they are possibly looking for. the situa

cnn's paula newton in hong kong now, based in ottawa, knows the area, her husband a diplomat, in lockdown, for people who aren't from here, it's hard to underestimate what a shock this is to this city. i know you know the area very well. what is security like at parliament hill? because i understand it is a number of different security forces which actually oversee security there? >> yeah, one of the things that will be on the table for them to look at. look, anderson always going to have to be a compromise. they said, the mayor told you it wasn't going to be a fortress. by blocking access to cars they thought they had it covered. metal detectors they're not at the door where the suspect burst through. you can get through there without having to go through metal detectors. obviously that is a key thing. the other thing is the perimeter. they can in some way, shape, form set up a perimeter. you see the huge green patch in front of parliament hill, i played with my kids on the lawn, had them there as babies. these are canadian values in terms of being open and free on the lawn they will i'm

. >> let's bring in paula newton following this story. she knows the situation very well. she knows the scene. what are you hearing, paula? what's the latest. set the scene for our viewers in the united states and around the world who may just be tuning in. >> one thing that's key here, wolf, and that is good news is there was not an incident now police are saying near that mall. like i say, that's about a five-minute walk from the parliament buildings. this does take the temperature down a notch. as i was just saying, it's still unclear whether or not they'll be able to give the all clear soon. right now the problem, wolf, is in terms of having anyone storm that parliament building, there are still places where a gunman would be hiding and because they're not sure on the number of people involved in the attack, that's a problem. as i say, they were able to confirm that there was not a separate incident at the mall, which would have been a five-minute walk from parliament hill. just a two or three-minute walk from that war memorial where tragically that soldier was killed.

cnn's paula newton has been watching what's going on. you're very familiar, paula.you know this area, ottawa, very, very well. you're getting more information. what else are you picking up? >> right now, they're still in the process of going door to door in the parliament building trying to make sure that there aren't any other suspects. at this point they're working very hard to determine exactly who the suspect is who was killed, who was doing the shooting in the parliament buildings and what exactly the origins are and what his background is. right now they're refusing to confirm anything. i was in contact with the prime minister's office and he remains at a secure location and is hoping to be able to make a statement in the next few hours. again, extraordinary events there on parliament hill and i've been in every corner and crevice of the building and they try to strike a balance with the security and the point was that they wanted to close it to cars to make sure that someone couldn't go up there with explosives and they wanted to keep it fairly open for pedes