Montreal madness

Dawson College drama

The whole world knows by now that Montreal was witness last Wednesday to a dramatic shooting at Dawson College, a very large English school located in Montreal’s downtown area, close to our city home. A 25 year old man, armed with a semi-automatic rifle and another two guns, stormed the Dawson campus and started his rampage around mid-day during the busy lunch break.
An18 year old girl was instantly killed and close to 20 students were wounded, including two whose life is still in danger today. The gunman, who was shot in the arm by the police, turned his rifle and killed himself. While the tragedy itself lasted around 30 minutes, its effects for many will be felt for a very long time.
The death of the young girl is absolutely heart-breaking. The state of the wounded students is extremely worrisome and their parents must be living traumatic moments. The hundreds of young people who witnessed the drama are still in shock and many of them will require psychological follow up and support. As for the population, it is still traumatized and wonders what needs to be done to avoid such tragedies in the future. My thoughts also go to the parents of the poor killer. Yes – I did write “poor killer” because I feel that the man responsible for the tragedy must have been a poor soul after all. His parents in today’s papers stated that they never suspected that their son was capable of such behaviour and dramatic acts. Whether this is true or not, they have lost their dear one and must feel responsible for his tragic acts. Living with this recurrent nightmare will require tremendous courage.

Montreal landings

On a much lighter note, it seems that there is a new fad quickly gaining popularity in Montreal. On Sunday September 10, a Cessna plane landed in the middle of the city on Park Avenue at around 4:00 PM. Hundreds of persons could not believe their eyes when they saw the plane land and make its way unscathed between the cars. The emergency landing was the pilot’s only option when he realized that his engine died while he was flying over the downtown area. There was simply no way he could glide to any airport...

Two days later, a small Piper Cherokee landed in the middle of Kimber Street in Longueil, less than ten kilometres away from the location of the Sunday landing. This time, the pilot was less lucky (or talented) and six people were slightly injured.

Those urban landings must quickly stop!