Police say Montreal gunman killed self
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-09-15 06:52

AN OBSESSION WITH GUNS

On his English-language blog, under the "Fatality666" name he used on the Web site, Gill posted 79 photographs, several showing him brandishing guns and a hunting knife.

One photo shows the tall, thin man dressed in a black trenchcoat and holding an automatic weapon. It carries the caption: "Ready for Action."

"Anger and hatred simmers within me," reads another photo caption.

In another photo, Gill holds a black weapon he describes as a CX4 Storm semi-automatic carbine, which is made by Beretta. In another, he brandishes an automatic weapon, admitting: "I think I have an obsession with guns."

Gill's online journal entries, which contain mundane accounts of daily life such as waiting for his contact lens cases to dry, are peppered with references to grim metal rock lyrics and violent computer games.

He professes to hate all people, especially "jocks" and "preps," and laments that bullies harass Goth kids.

The entries also boast of his love of guns, including his favorite: "Tech 9 (too bad they're illegal in Canada)."

SHOCK WAVES THROUGH QUEBEC

On Thursday, people began leaving flowers and notes of sympathy for the shooting victims near Dawson College, which remained cordoned off. Officials said it would remain closed until at least Monday.

Flags flew at half-mast at public buildings across Quebec. The shooting sent shock waves through the mainly French-speaking province of 7.4 million, which well remembers the 1989 massacre at Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique, where a gunman killed 14 women before ending his own life.

The Ecole Polytechnique gunman, Marc Lepine, 25, left behind a three-page letter that said feminists had ruined his life and named 19 high-profile Quebec women he wanted to kill.

The Polytechnique shooting spurred Canada's gun control movement, which culminated in Ottawa's strict, gun-registry legislation. The law was brought in by the Liberals but the current Conservative government wants to scrap it in part.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper did not directly address the issue of gun control legislation on Thursday, but told reporters:

"We can obviously just observe that laws we have didn't prevent this tragedy, which is why our government will be ... looking to make our laws more effective."


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