TORONTO - An officer was reportedly shot at a Brampton courthouse Friday morning. Courthouse Locked Down. (SunNews) "We were told that the shots were on the first floor. Now hearing it was on the second floor. I'm on the second floor," Toronto criminal lawyer Will Jaksa tweeted from inside the courthouse. "Latest is that a court officer may have been shot." Peel police confirmed they were "responding to a call of shots at the Brampton court house," Const. Matt Small said. Brampton is about 30km northwest of Toronto. UPDATE (National Post) Brampton courthouse locked down after Peel police officer shot, shooter dead A Peel Regional Police officer has been shot at Brampton's A. Grenville and William Davis Courthouse and the shooter is dead. Police told reporters inside the courthouse that a man tried to enter the building with gun, shot a Peel Regional Police officer and was then himself shot dead. The courthouse at 7755 Hurontario Street, near Hurontario and Highway 407, has been locked down; an ambulance was making an emergency run, reportedly to Sunnybrook Hospital. "The bad guy is dead," police told reporters on the scene. Images from inside the locked-down courthouse showed the building surrounded by police officers. Very little information was provided to those locked inside court, only that there has been a "major incident" and no one can leave. A police tactical unit was searching the third floor of the courthouse with a dog. Inside the locked-down courtroom where Mohamed Hersi was on trial for allegedly attempting to join terror group Al Shabab, all was calm. Const. Fiona Thivierge of Peel Regional Police confirmed to CP24 that there was an emergency run to hospital from the scene, but could not identify the victim's identity or condition. The call to police came minutes before 11 a.m. The lockdown made it difficult to confirm the number of victims, Const. Thivierge told CP24. "This is a very complex scene," she said. Sangeeta Patel, a criminal lawyer, was on the second floor of the courthouse when the shots were fired. She said she's been told that it's "more like six shots that had been fired." Patel also said she was told the officer who was shot had "compression to his head to nurse the wound." Alex Anderson, a 22-year-old student, said he heard five successive shots go off. "One shot and then everyone kinda just froze who was around me," he said. "It was a series of shots for the other four." Anderson was blocked by the escalator in the courthouse, but said he was told by another witness that the shooter fired the first shot, and police officers on the scene fired the following four. "He had wounded an officer," Anderson said. "And the remaining officers fired back." Anderson said he couldn't see the body of the shooter but he "can see everybody around" it. Witnesses were relocated by police to the other end of the courthouse. The five-storey modern-style courthouse opened in 2000. It's home to 34 courtrooms for both the Ontario and Superior Courts of Justice.

• published: 28 Mar 2014
• views: 22