By JONAS MILLER
Staff Writer
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Just before 10am Eastern Time on Wednesday, a man by the name of Michael Zehaf-Bibeau went on a terrorist-like rampage in Ottawa, Canada.
Zehaf-Bibeau, rifle in hand, approached the National War Museum and fired on the officers that were standing guard at the front of the building, fatally wounding one of them, and missing the other. He then hijacked a car and made his way to the Parliament building, where he engaged in a short firefight with local RCPM officers. Zehaf-Bibeau was eventually shot and pronounced dead at the scene.
Sitting in class on the morning of this incident, I watched it all unfold from my computer screen as more details came out. I suppose I should have been paying attention, but it’s not every day that something this horrific happens in Canada, actually, nothing like this EVER happens in Canada.
Hailing from Plattsburgh, I’ve lived about 40 minutes from the Canadian border my entire life. Even as a kid, with little to no concept of what was bad and what happened in the world, I always felt as though Canada was the safest of places. I’ve been there probably close to two dozen times in my lifetime and upon entering the country, I was greeted with nothing but confusing French signs and candy I had never heard of, certainly no shootings or murders.
I can remember going to Ottawa twice, once for a class field trip, and once for a baseball tournament. The worst thing I can remember about either of those trips is that in the hotel my baseball team stayed in, the bottled water was 10 dollars or something ridiculous like that. Awful right? What a terrible country…NOT. Canada is great! Everyone I’ve ever met there has been polite and understanding when I tell them, “I have no idea what you’re saying,” as they blabber on in their French-Canadian idiolect.
I think what troubles me the most about this is we aren’t the only ones that think Canada is safe; they do too. If a man with a slingshot, never mind a rifle, came within one hundred feet of the White House, there would be a problem. It’s my personal opinion that because nothing like this ever happens up there, they were just as unprepared for it as the rest of us were. It’s similar to a bunch of drunken teenagers stumbling into a Chuck-e-cheese, the employees there certainly wouldn’t have been trained to handle a situation like that, because who would ever expect it to happen? Obviously teens in an arcade and a crazy guy with a gun at Parliament are opposites, but hopefully my point comes across as clear.
Another important piece of this case is the fact that Zehaf-Bibeau had a clear plan as to where his final destination was. If he were just a psycho on a rampage, he would have shot the first seven people that got in his way. The rifle he was carrying can carry a maximum on eight rounds, but more usually seven. After fatally shooting one officer and missing the other, this would leave him with five shots left. He neglected to fire again until he reached the Parliament and engaged in the shootout that turned out to be the end of his terror run. He was saving his ammo for someone special, and considering that the Prime Minister was in the Parliament building at he time of the attack, he could very well have been the target.
It’s scary to think that as tragic as Wednesday’s events were, they could have been monumentally worse. Similar to the White House incident several weeks ago where a somewhat motivated, somewhat crazy Omar Gonzalez made it all the way into the east wing of the house. That situation thankfully did not end in Biden gaining control of the United States. I’m not even sure who is second in command in Canada but I’m very thankful I didn’t find out Wednesday afternoon.
By the time I make my next trip to Canada, hopefully all of this will be in the past, and I won’t have to worry about anything except the awful driving of the countries residents. I would like to go back to Ottawa eventually and visit the War museum and the Parliament building, especially since I’m one of the generations that will grow up remembering that one time the crazy guy tried to shoot up the place. Until then, I will continue to admire Canada for the heavily wooded, maple syrup covered safe haven that it has been my entire life.
