Witnesses tell of chaos as college targeted

The gunman involved in the college shooting in Montreal that killed at least one woman and injured 19 others was armed with at least two weapons, an eyewitness said Wednesday.

Alex Zannis said he was in the cafeteria at the timeof the shooting at DawsonCollege, and watched asthe man entered and began exchanging fire with police.

He said his friends dropped to the floor.

Zannis said the man, who was dressed in a trench coat, was carrying a handgun while exchanging rounds with officers.

"When we realized what was going on and started making our way away from the scene, crawling along the floor, he pulled out a large gun that looked like a semi-automatic rifle and started filling it up with rounds," Zannis said.

Zannis said the gunman was yelling at the officers to stay back and was "shooting wildly."

"He was trying to aim slightly in the directionof the officers then towards myself and some of my friends."

Zannis said his friends were able to scamper away andget behind a wall.

Anotherstudent said the shooter was telling police officers on the scene to go away in a "rude manner."

A number of witnesses say the shooter didn't appear to reload his weapon as he fired multiple times.

The shootings happened at 12:41 p.m. ET at the college in downtown Montreal. TheEnglish-language school has roughly 10,000 studentsaged16 to 20.

Awoman died in hospital and a gunman was shot dead by police, Montreal's police chief said after the shooting.

Man with trench coat fired outside school too

Anotherwitness told CBC News she wassmoking outside the college when she saw a tall, white man wearing a long black trench coat walk down the street with a large gun.

He was with a number of other people, said the woman, who was shaking and crying as she spoke.

The man was about 19 years old with body piercingsand wore clothing with studs, she said. He fired a number of times before going inside the school, the woman added.

She said she ran and hid in the bushes as debris from the gunfire scattered around her. She ran again until a woman let her insidea nearbyapartment.

Sehr Marous said he and his friend Marie were exiting the school when they noticed a man holding a gun with both hands.

"He opened fire— pap, pap, pap!" he said. "He ran after us; he was metres behind us."

"There was chaos. Everybody was running and screaming."

He said he believed it was a paint gun and didn't immediately think of running away.

"I wouldn't have run if my friend wasn't beside me. I thought she was overreacting. Now I feel like an idiot."

Mallory Lawton was in class at the time of the shootings. She said the floors shook as people in the hallways started running.

Police ordered students in her class to remain inside the room and lock the door until they let them leave.

"We closed the door, we locked it, we all just hoped that it would pass and tried not to think about it," she said.

"We were there for a good two hours."

SWAT team was screaming, 'Where is he?'

"We ran out of the building as a SWAT team was coming in," student Michel Boyer told CBC."They were screaming 'Where is he? Where is he?' And when you have 20 police running
at you with guns you really know that your life is in danger."

Students tried to phone their parents while they were locked inside the classroom, but cellphone service was jammed and most couldn't get through, she said.

Kim Stevenson, who works close to the school, told CBC News many nearby buildings, including a shopping mall, were evacuated. Sections of Montreal's subwaywere also closed.

Nearby Concordia University set up a centre where Dawson students could try to locate friends. Concordia student union rep Justin Levy said he had seen many Dawson students "in tears, confused, looking for friends."

Family members of Dawson College students can call (514) 280-2880 or (514) 280-2806 for more information, police said.

The information hotline at Montreal General Hospital is (514) 843-2839.