MONTREAL — A gunman opened fire at a downtown college Wednesday, killing a woman and injuring at least 19 other people, eight critically, before police shot and killed him.
Witnesses said the man, in his 20s, with a mohawk haircut and wearing a black trench coat, started shooting randomly with an automatic rifle about 12:40 p.m. outside Dawson College, near a spot where students gather to smoke.
Montreal Police Chief Yvan Delorme said officers arrived minutes after the shooting started and ultimately shot the suspect, who died at the scene. Police did not reveal the man's identity and said they did not know his motive.
"There is no racist or no terrorist link, as far as we know," Delorme said.
Police found the gunman's car nearby and discovered several other weapons and ammunition, said Robert Mansueto, a police spokesman.
The slaying victim was 20, he said, and the wounded ranged in age from 18 to 22.
The gunman fired between 12 and 15 shots in quick succession before entering a campus cafeteria, where he opened fire again, said witnesses, who ran or dived to the ground. Some shots sprayed across the street into the Second Cup coffee shop in the Alexis Nihon plaza, one of Montreal's most popular shopping malls.
When officers arrived, the gunman fled into another campus building, where he chased students and aimed at others on the floor, witnesses said.
Students poured out of the school onto the bloody scene where the shooting began. Others were told to run back into class.
"We ran out of the building as a SWAT team was coming in," student Michel Boyer told CBC, Canada's national network. "They were screaming, 'Where is he?' And when you have 20 police running at you with guns, you really know that your life is in danger."
Police said the suspect was shot inside the school. Witnesses said the incident lasted about 20 minutes.
Some witnesses said a second man came out of the college and stared at paramedics and people who were aiding a man with a head wound before racing off. He crossed the street and went into a movie theater complex in the Montreal Forum, where the Montreal Canadiens hockey team once played.
He then apparently disappeared into Montreal's underground city.
A search for the man was later called off.
The scene was pandemonium as people were instructed to leave the mall through an entryway facing the shooting scene, in front of the college. Hundreds of concerned and curious people flocked to the area as students rushed out.
