LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS

"Vickers maintained his position around the corner from the wounded Zehaf-Bibeau for about two minutes, waiting for an opportunity to strike. 'I do recall getting a glimpse of him: He was trying to look around the pillar, and when I reached out to look around the pillar, I could see his head.'

Photo by Ron Ward /Ottawa Citizen

“That’s when I dove through the air – and I mean dove through the air – and shot at the same time,” Vickers remembers. “I know that first bullet of mine hit him because he made a terrible, loud sound, ‘Ugggh!’”

(Screen capture/CBC video)

“I landed directly below his feet: I was literally looking up at him and he was looking down at me. I continued to shoot my firearm.

He fell, not on top of me, but right beside me on the floor.”

Vickers’ own actions that day were a function of training and instinct.

While stationed with the RCMP in Yellowknife, N.W.T., he was part of an emergency response team that practised extreme takedown manoeuvres.

“I remember it being one of the things we did: dive on the ground to shoot up at the suspect,” Vickers says. “I don’t know if that had any bearing or not. I certainly didn’t think about that.”

READ VICKERS' FULL ACCOUNT OF THE EVENT

https://ottawacitizen.com/feature/kevin-vickers-2014-parliament-hill-shooting?utm_campaign=The%2BRoundup&utm_medium=email&utm_source=The_Roundup_147