Ottawa shooting report says Cpl. Nathan Cirillo tried to take cover during attack
OPP report into National War Memorial attack reveals new details about shooting of 24-year-old reservist
Struck in the back by a bullet, Cpl. Nathan Cirillo tried his best to take cover as gunman Michael Zehaf-Bibeau pursued him and kept on shooting during the attack at the National War Memorial last Oct. 22.
The chilling new details of the last moments of Cirillo's life are contained in the Ontario Provincial Police report on how RCMP responded as events unfolded that day.
- Timeline: Zehaf-Bibeau's five minutes of terror: From Cirillo shooting to Centre Block firefight
- Read the reports on the Oct. 22 shooting
- RCMP missed chance to stop Parliament Hill gunman: OPP report
The report says Zehaf-Bibeau arrived behind the monument on Wellington Street at 9:47 a.m. in a car purchased through Kijiji from a local Ottawa resident.
Zehaf-Bibeau removed a rifle from the car and ran out from behind the memorial to the front, where Cirillo and the other member of the honorary guard, Branden Stevenson, were standing at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
The shooter's face was partly covered as he approached the unarmed sentries.
The report states Zehaf-Bibeau stopped more than three metres away from the ceremonial guard. He raised his rifle and shot Cirillo in the back for the first time.
At that point, Cirillo fell to his hands and knees. The report says he attempted to crawl to the other side of the tomb, when Zehaf-Bibeau fired again, hitting Cirillo's lower back.
The 24-year-old father of one "lay on his stomach in the prone position" beside the tomb, the report states.
The report says Zehaf-Bibeau then shot Cirillo a third and final time, again in the back.
Zehaf-Bibeau lifted his hand and the report says, "yelled something similar to 'Iraq.'"
As CBC News has reported, Cirillo's friend and fellow reservist Stevenson gave chase to Zehaf-Bibeau. But the gunman had run back to his car and driven off. He pulled a U-turn, then abandoned the car on Wellington Street and ran through the gates to Parliament Hill.
All of that occurred by 9:53 a.m.
Meanwhile, several people at the scene desperately attempted to keep Cirillo alive by treating his wounds and performing CPR, but he died later in hospital.
