Dawson tragedy: Overnight update

By now, most people will have heard the latest developments.

The young woman who succumbed to her injuries has been identified as Anastasia DeSousa. She was only 18 years old. Six more people are still in critical condition this morning, and hospital sources say that two of them are still “fighting for their lives”. My thoughts are with all their families this morning.

Also, we have more information about the shooter. He has been identified by the press as 25-year-old Kimveer Gill of Laval, a devotee of guns, the colour black, trench coats, death metal and – as many of you will have heard – blogging. In fact, he posted an entry on his blog less than two hours before going on the shooting rampage. No, I won’t post a link; it’s already hard enough to realize that these 15 minutes of fame were exactly what he was after. But here’s what news reports are saying:

In his profile on vampirefreaks.com, a website devoted to goth culture, Gill calls himself “Trench,” saying: “You will come to know him as the Angel of Death.”

“Work sucks… School sucks… Life sucks… What else can I say,” he writes. “Metal and Goth kick ass. Life is like a video game, you gotta die sometime.”

A photo gallery that accompanies the profile includes photos that show Gill brandishing a Barretta CX4 Storm semi-automatic rifle. In the last seven photos, he is wearing a black trench coat and holding the rifle. The caption below the last photo reads: “Ready for Action.”

Now he’s ready for nothing but infamy… and autopsy. Police are expecting their investigation to determine conclusively whether the bullet that actually killed him was shot by police or was, as has been widely speculated, self-inflicted.

What else is there to say about such a senseless tragedy? For the wounded, still fighting for their lives in hospital, we can only hope and pray. For the students and people who were in the building, shaken and in shock, we can only do whatever we can to offer support and understanding.

The politicos will point fingers, as they usually do, and I’m sure we’ll hear a lot of tough talk about increasing security (hard to do in a large public campus) and cracking down on guns (bring it on, but could that really have prevented anything?). Meanwhile, the rest of us need to go on with our daily lives, because one crazed gunman has already done more than enough damage.