Canada’s Parliament Locked Down After Gunfire

Police aren't confirming reports that a gunman has been shot and killed in the Canadian capital of Ottawa -- where there was gunfire at the country's National War Memorial and then inside the Parliament building.

Ottawa police confirmed they had a call at 9:52 a.m. Wednesday with a report of shots fired, and witnesses reported seeing a gunman running toward Parliament Hill, which is under lockdown.

Others on the Hill told Canadian Press they heard shots being fired in several different corridors.
 
The top spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Harper was safe and had left Parliament Hill.
 
Emergency responders are still on the scene and paramedics took the wounded soldier away in an ambulance.
 
The incident comes just two days after two Canadian soldiers were run over - and one of them killed - in Quebec by a man with jihadist sympathies.

UPDATE:  CBC television reports that one gunman is dead after the incident that began just before 10 a.m. ET.

The Toronto Star says the wounded person is a Canadian soldier who was guarding the memorial.

CNN interviewed Peter Henderson, who said he was locking his bicycle near the memorial when the initial shooting took place.

Cabinet Minister Tony Clement tweeted that at least 30 shots were heard inside Parliament, where Conservative and Liberal members were holding their weekly caucus meetings.
 
Witnesses told the Canadian Press news agency that some people fled Parliament by scrambling down scaffolding that had been set up for renovations. Others were in lockdown.
 
The top spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Harper was safe and had left Parliament Hill.  Police have been warning people in downtown Ottawa to stay away from windows and rooftops.
 
The shooting came two days after a recent convert to Islam killed one Canadian soldier and injured another in a hit-and-run before being gunned down by police.