Canadian PM to Parliament: 'We will not run scared'

Canadian police confirmed Thursday that only one gunman was involved in the shootings in and around the Parliament building in Ottawa that left one soldier dead.

The gunman, who was fatally shot during the rampage, has been identified as Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, a Canadian born in 1982. He was described by officials as a recent convert to Islam.

Mourners light a candle and tie a Canadian flag around a light pole near the National War Memorial after a soldier was killed in Ottawa on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2014.(Photo: Patrick Doyle, The Canadian Press, AP)

The Globe and Mail newspaper of Toronto reported that Zehaf-Bibeau was recently designated a 'high-risk traveler' by the Canadian government and that his passport had been seized.

It said Zehaf-Bibeau had a criminal record for drug possession, credit-card forgery and robbery.

In a brief and tear-filled telephone conversation with the Associated Press on Thursday, the suspect's mother, Susan Bibeau, said she did not know what to say to those hurt in the attack.

'Can you ever explain something like this?' she said. 'We are sorry.'

The clearly distraught mother told the AP that the was crying for the victims of the shootings, not for her son.

Ottawa police Constable Marc Soucy confirmed to the Associated Press Thursday that police are satisfied there was one attacker.

Ottawa police Chief Charles Bordeleau told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. that 'there is no longer a threat to public safety.'

Police said in the initial hours after the shootings that as many as two other gunmen may have taken part. But as the day wore on, it appeared increasingly likely that the attack was the work of one person.

It was the second terrorism-related attack in two days. On Monday, a man described by Prime Minister Stephen Harper as an 'ISIL-inspired terrorist' on Monday ran over two soldiers in a parking lot in Quebec, killing one and injuring another before being shot to death by police.

The attacker, like the gunman in Parliament, was a recent convert to Islam. ISIL refers to the Islamic State militant group that has taken over large sections of Iraq and Syria.

In Wednesday's attack, a gunman killed a soldier - identified as Cpl. Nathan Cirillo - who was standing guard at Ottawa's war memorial shortly before 10 a.m. on Wednesday, then stormed Parliament nearby.

The assailant was shot and killed by the ceremonial sergeant at arms.

In a televised address. Harper sought to reassure and bolster a nation stunned by the attack in the normally placid Ottawa capital.

'We will not be intimidated. Canada will never be intimidated,' Harper said.

He vowed that the attacks will 'lead us to strengthen our resolve and redouble our efforts' to keep the country safe and work with Canada's allies to fight terrorists.

In Washington, President Obama condemned the shootings as 'outrageous' and said: 'We have to remain vigilant.' The U.S. Embassy in Ottawa was locked down as a precaution, and security was tightened at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery, just outside Washington.

The shaken capital slowly tried to return to normal on Thursday, with MPs returning to work, although the Parliament buildings were otherwise closed to visitors.

The National War Memorial remained cordoned off with police tape, but members of Parliament and government officials stopped by to pay their respects.

Harper arrived by motorcade around 9 a.m., joining by Liberal Leader Justice Trudeau and various Conservative Cabinet ministers.

Contributing: Associated Press

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