Montreal college reopens after shooting trauma

MONTREAL, Sep 18: Holding hands, weeping and worrying, students and staff returned to Montreal's Dawson College today as it reopened after a shootout that killed one student and injured 19 others.

Teachers and staff were the first to re-enter the building, which had been closed since Wednesday's shooting. Some admitted they did not know if they would teach this week or if they would just give their students a chance to talk.

''I know it's going to be enormously difficult for some of them,'' said Hanford Woods, an English literature professor who has taught at Dawson for 30 years.

''I've prepared a class, but if the class doesn't happen, I'm prepared to deal with that, to talk with the students if they want to talk.'' Onlookers have already created a shrine of flowers, cards and candles outside the school, which has some 10,000 students aged between 16 and 19.

Many of the flowers were pink, in memory of Anastasia DeSousa, the 18-year-old student who was shot and killed by Kimveer Gill, 25, who opened fire on the street and inside the college at lunchtime on Wednesday.

Dozens of students, staff and parents gathering at the school also wore pink clothing such as sweaters and scarves.

Police said DeSousa was shot nine times. Her funeral was scheduled for tomorrow.

Some students held hands as they entered the building to collect items abandoned during the rampage, while others walked away after a brief visit, trembling and in tears.

But many waited until 12:41 p.m., the time when the shooting started, and walked in to applause from the crowd, a symbolic gesture meant to signify that they were ''taking back'' their college.

''It was really hard. All I could think about was what happened on Wednesday,'' said Lina Cioffi, a 17-year-old student who was on the main building's third floor when the shooting began. ''As long as we all work to get through it together, everything is going to be okay.''

Dawson officials, including Director General Richard Filion, greeted the students at the front door. In Ottawa, the House of Commons stood for a moment of silence to honor the victims as it began its fall session on Monday. Opposition members also peppered the Conservative government with questions about its plan to scrap part of the gun registry.

Two shooting victims remain in critical condition, while five others are also in hospital, in regular recovery wards.

Gill, who called himself the ''Angel of Death'' in an online journal and professed to hate people and love guns, died from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head at the scene after exchanging gunfire with police.

The killer's profile, photographs and musings on the Goth culture Web site www.vampirefreaks.com revealed an individual fascinated by violence and death, who appeared to become increasingly paranoid in the weeks before Wednesday's rampage.

In his Web postings, Gill raved about hating ''jocks,'' or athletes, and ''preps,'' those who dress or behave in a style associated with preparatory schools.

The Web site, which has some 600,000 members, has been heavily criticized by authorities and parents because of the violent, sexist and racist nature of its postings. Some bloggers expressed admiration for Gill.

The day before Gill's rampage, a 19-year-old Indiana woman who had posted photos of herself with a handgun, responded to one of his postings on www.vampirefreaks.com: ''Can I go play with you?? I wanna go hunt down the preppies with you!!'' Meanwhile, today, Quebec police said they had arrested a 15-year-old boy near the small town of Hudson, 65 km (40 miles) west of Montreal, after messages on www.vampirefreaks.com that threatened to harm students at a local high school.

''He wrote that he would like to do the same thing at his high school as what happened at Dawson,'' said police spokesman Jayson Gauthier. ''We didn't want to take any chances.''

REUTERS