On the 10-year anniversary of the deadly Parliament Hill shooting, former sergeant-at-arms Kevin Vickers says there’s “not a day that goes by” where he doesn’t think about it.
On Oct. 22, 2014, a gunman shot and killed 24-year-old Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, a member of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, who was standing guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the National War Memorial.
The gunman then ran up Parliament Hill and stormed Centre Block, before he was stopped and killed by RCMP and security officers, and Vickers.
In an interview on CTV News Channel’s Power Play, in honour of the anniversary, Vickers told host Vassy Kapelos that on the day, he always thinks about Cirillo’s mother, Kathy, and a conversation the two had about a month after the shooting.
“There were so many heroic guys that day, especially our House of Commons guys that were unarmed,” said Vickers, who has not spoken about the events of that day to the media in the decade since they took place. “I salute them and thank them from the bottom of my heart as well.”
The former sergeant-at-arms recalled the “sickening sound” of the gunman’s “deep, wheezing” breathing, as Vickers stood within just feet of him, as something that “stays with you.”
The gunman had already been shot multiple times by House of Commons security. Vickers commended the “very brave RCMP officers who came up the Hall of Honour that day.”
“He shot and fired towards them,” Vickers said. “The moment he shot and fired, I go out in front of him, firing my weapon, and I landed directly at his feet.”
“I looked up, he looked down. I looked up at him, he looked down at me, and I continued to fire my weapon, and he fell down, not on top of me, but directly beside me,” Vickers continued.
Vickers received an emotional five-minute-long standing ovation by members of Parliament on the day following the shooting.
“There’s, I think, different accounts came out with different recollections, and I just thought it best to let things go, and just live with my recollections of what happened myself,” Vickers said, when asked by Kapelos why he hadn’t spoken much about the day publicly until now. “And 10 years on, I said, perhaps it’s time to unload what I recall of the incident.”
The Parliament Hill shooting took place just two days after a man drove his car into two Canadian Armed Forces officers in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., killing Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent.
You can watch Vickers’ full interview in the video player at the top of this article.
