Canada PM in Parliament at Time of Shooting: Lawmaker

Ottawa: Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper was meeting with lawmakers in Parliament at the moment when a gunman opened fire in the building on Wednesday, a senator who attended the meeting said.

Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu was with Harper at a meeting of fellow Conservative Party members, he said, when they heard the shots ring out.

"There was a brief moment of panic," Boisvenu told Radio Canada after the shooting that he described as lasting "several minutes."

"We were lucky enough to have in our caucus several former police officers... who quickly got the situation under control," he said.


Earlier on Wednesday, Harper's spokesman said the Canadian leader had been taken to a secure place and will issue a statement later in the day.

An opposition lawmaker, John McKay, told media that he had just settled in to a meeting of members of his Liberal party when he heard the gunfire.

"I hear this 'pop, pop, pop,' possibly 10 shots, don't really know," he said after being evacuated, along with several other lawmakers, from the building.

Police later confirmed a soldier was fatally shot, and a suspect was confirmed dead.