Chaotic scene as shots fired at Montreal college
Last Updated Wed, 13 Sep 2006 14:11:23 EDT

CBC News

Police are on the scene of a shooting at a Montreal college, where at least four people have reportedly been injured, two critically. 

Emergency officials help an injured woman outside Dawson College in downtown Montreal. (CBC)

Students at Dawson College told reporters they heard several shots in the building at around lunchtime.

Eyewitnesses say they saw a tall skinny man, wearing a black trenchcoat and a mohawk haircut, walk into the cafeteria carrying a large gun.  He apparently fired several shots.

Student Michel Boyer sought shelter behind a reception desk after seeing a gunman and fleeing from the vicinity of the shootings.

"I thought this was fake, and it was just an excuse to get out of class," he told CBC Newsworld. "I did run away as soon as I did see that it was real."

His voice shaking, he added: "It was the most scary thing that has ever happened to me."

Boyer said he saw at least one man holding a gun. It did not seem to be an automatic weapon, he added.

"I'm only 19 and to have flashes of your life and the people that you love going by you, it should not be allowed. It was highly traumatizing."

Hundreds of students have fled the building, and the area has been cordoned off. Police officers wearing bullet-proof vests are keeping people away from the college.

"They're telling me, 'Go the other way, lady, you're in the line of fire,'" said CBC News reporter Nancy Wood, who is reporting from the scene.

Montreal police confirm that there is at least one suspect they say has been "neutralised." Television images showed police officers dragging a bloody body out of the main doors of the building.

Hundreds of police officers have surrounded the building in downtown Montreal. They've cordoned off a park facing the school, as well as the Alexis Nihon Plaza, a nearby