The man who killed one 18-year old woman and wounded 19 others at Dawson College in Montreal, was briefly on the roll of the Canadian Armed Forces.
Lt Carol Brown, a spokeswoman of the Canadian Forces and John Knoff, a spokesman of the Canadian National Defense Department, have confirmed that Kimveer Gill, 25, who after going on a shooting rampage, committed suicide, "served for a one-month period", but they both wouldn't say why he left the Canadian forces so quickly.
They say Gill was with them from January 17 to February 16, 1999. During this period, he took 'basic training' at the Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit School in Saint-Jean, Quebec, Knoff is quoted in published reports as saying.
He, however, reportedly stressed that Gill did not get any weapons training nor did he do anything but rudimentary basic training, which is largely physical exercise and disciplinary training.
"He didn't complete (even) his basic training," and he left. Neither Knoff nor Carol Brown would say why Gill left defense forces so quickly after voluntarily enrolling himself.
What has now emerged is that Gill's parents knew about their son possessing those weapons. Kimveer showed them his impressive Beretta, his mother Parvinder Sandhu is quoted in an interview with Le Presse (French language daily) as saying.
To her "there was nothing illegal. Otherwise we wouldn't have tolerated that He showed us his big gun, the semi-automatic which he used for shooting, but he said it was for sport, for going to the training center."
Sandhu got breast cancer a few years back and according to her that depressed their son. Her husband doesn't work anymore. He was reportedly a professor at the University of Toronto.
And amazingly, even though they were watching TV all the time on that fateful day of September 13, and they watched the tragedy at the Dawson college unfolding, they did not know until at 11.30 pm -- more than 10 hours after the shooting spree -- that the killer was their own son Kimveer.
She now confesses that their son hid many things. "Seeing, (the pictures on Vampirefreaks.com) I asked myself how a good boy could become like this," Sandhu is quoted as wondering. "I never knew he went to this site," she added.
Had she or her husband had the slightest hint of what was going on, they would have intervened. "We would have built a wall in front of him to prevent him from doing that."
If her son had survived that day, Sandhu reportedly told the Canadian daily, "I would be very angry with him. I would insist they give him the maximum penalty. No one deserves what just happened. I feel terrible when I see the other parents suffering."
They are now naturally busy in preparing for the funeral of their son, said Sandhu. She said they are trying very hard to mourn -- they have lost a son and become parents of an assassin. "People forget that; they believe that perhaps we are criminals too."
According to published reports, the lights in their Laval home are all switched off and curtains on the windows are drawn. Montreal police is helping them order food from outside.
Despite this shooting, that has taken the life of one person -- Dawson 1st year student De Sousa and the lives of at least 3 other victims is hanging by a thread -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday there was no change in his thinking of abolishing the gun registry legislation. The gun registry didn't prevent Kimveer Gill from acquiring three weapons legally.
So, the Federal government would look at ways to reduce the availability of weapons to unstable individuals, Harper said adding, that in the light of tragedy at Dawson College, the government would contemplate new measures.
Harper also wondered as to "how could such an individual (Gill) get such an arsenal of weapons? I think it's truly shocking. One presumes there is something we can do about that."
