She also shot, a telling picture - Indian-origin MP recounts the shooting at Canadian Parliament

Nina Grewal , a Canadian MP, took and gave to Reuters the
photograph above that was published in The Telegraph on
Thursday. The photograph shows how chairs were stacked
against the doors of the Conservative Party caucus room
shortly after the Ottawa shooting began on Wednesday

Sanjay Mandal. TT, Oct. 23: Nina Grewal called her husband to say she “would probably get killed” and threw a chair to an impromptu barricade being put together “to prevent the terrorists from entering the room”.

She also managed to click a photograph that captured the scene behind the doors in the Canadian Parliament building that came under attack on Wednesday morning.

The Indian-origin Nina is not a photographer but a Conservative MP for Fleetwood-Port Kells in the House of Commons in Canada. She spoke to The Telegraph over the phone from the Parliament building in Ottawa in between meetings on Thursday.

“As soon as the Prime Minister started his address, we heard multiple gunshots very close. We thought a large group of terrorists had attacked,” said Nina, an MP since 2004. “I was praying to God…. I called up my husband. My family members were constantly in touch with me.”

Nina, 54, was born in Japan and lived in West Africa for 10 years before moving to Canada in September 1991. She received formal education in India at the Convent of Jesus and Mary, Shimla, and earned a bachelor’s degree in history and English literature from Punjabi University, Patiala.

The MP has two sons: Japjot Grewal, a medical student in Chicago, and Livjot Grewal, who did his master’s from the London School of Economics. Her first cousin is Kewal Singh Dhillon, a Congress MLA from Punjab’s Barnala.

The shots were fired outside the room where Prime Minister Stephen Harper was addressing a meeting. Harper was removed to an adjacent room but around 145 others had to wait in a room on the second floor of the six-storey Parliament building for almost nine hours before security personnel told them it was safe to move out. “The Prime Minister was moved to a more secure location immediately,” said the MP whose family traces its roots to Patiala in Punjab. 

About 15 minutes after the firing stopped, the security personnel informed them through the public address system that everyone was safe. “They were constantly entering the room and telling us they had secured the floors and nothing would happen to us,” said Nina.“Most of them (the others in the room) became emotional and many of them were crying. There were people in the room who were diabetic,” she said.

She had taken the picture to assure her family that she was safe. “People were piling chairs at the door from a close range. Even I threw a chair to prevent the terrorists from entering the room,” said Nina.

Nina identified the woman in a beaded necklace in her picture as a parliamentary staff member and the elderly wheelchair user closer to the door as Conservative MP Stephen Fletcher.

The room has two main doors to the room and a third that connects to a smaller room.

“We thought the group that had attacked Parliament would enter the room any moment and start shooting us. All of us were so scared that we gathered in the corners of the room, consoling each other,” she recounted. (The police later established that the attack was carried out by a lone gunman.)

Her husband Gurmant, a former conservative MP, received the first call from his wife barely a couple of minutes after the firing started. “My wife was very scared and told me she would probably get killed,” said Gurmant, who is from Ludhiana.

“Finally, when everything was over, I thought I have got a second life,” said Nina.

The day after, it was business as usual in the Canadian Parliament and for Nina. “We are holding meetings. And we are not feeling unsafe because there are a lot of police and Parliament security personnel everywhere,” she said.

On Facebook, she wrote: “Today, myself and my colleagues headed back to Parliament, to do what Canadians elected us to do -- to represent them in the House of Commons, and to stand firm in the face of tyranny and cowardice. We will stand strong, unified and yesterday’s attack has hardened our resolve. We will redouble our efforts to keep Canada Safe. May God keep our land glorious and free. Stay #CanadaStrong”

A second post said: “…we will not back down, we will stand firm and free as a nation. My heart and prayers are with the family of the fallen soldier who gave his life at our war memorial….”

Nina said she loved Bollywood and was “a fan of all the stars”. She had last visited India in 2012 as part of the Prime Minister’s delegation. “That time I had visited Bangalore, Chandigarh and other places in Punjab,” she said.

Ottawa, Oct. 22: The heart of the Canadian capital was traumatised this morning after a gunman entered the Parliament building and fired multiple times after fatally wounding a soldier guarding the National War Memorial nearby. The gunman was eventually shot and killed inside the Parliament building, Ottawa police said. Many shots — some estimates said 30 — were fired just outside the room where Prime Minister Stephen Harper was addressing a meeting of legislators. Harper was safely removed from the building but Parliament was locked down. “PM (Harper) was addressing caucus, then a huge boom, followed by rat-a-tat shots. We all scattered. It was clearly right outside our caucus door,” treasury board minister Tony Clement said. The shooting in the House started around 9.50am, just as the leaders of three major parties were holding their weekly meetings. Minutes before, the soldier had been shot and fatally wounded at the war memorial. But the incidents, shocking in Canada’s normally tranquil capital, were not over. Ottawa police were searching for more suspects near the war memorial and on Parliament Hill. Residents were warned to stay away from downtown Ottawa. The assailant’s identity and motive were not clear. The shootings came amid heightened concern about terrorist attacks in Canada. Two days earlier, a radical convert ran over two soldiers at a suburban Montreal strip mall, killing one of them. Prime Minister Harper, an outspoken critic of the Islamic State movement and other militant groups, has been considering the introduction of new anti-terrorism legislation. Witnesses said they had seen a car pulling up on Wellington Street, between the memorial and the Parliament buildings; a brown Toyota Corolla, without licence plates. Some recalled seeing two men climb out of the vehicle, leaving the engine running. One was seen walking towards the war memorial, carrying what appeared to be a bundle of blankets. He was said to have been about 5-foot, 10-inch tall, and white, although one witness described him as “South American” looking. He was also said to be slightly overweight, and about 30 years old. A witness said the man was wearing a hoodie, as well as a bandana tied around his head. Another said he had a black-and-white “scarf”. He approached the memorial and the soldiers from behind — and opened fire. Another witness said the gunman had then commandeered a car and driven to the gates of the main Parliament building, and rushed towards the entrance. Matthew Blais, a workman, said the gunman had jumped “into a green car and headed up the street. He parked right in front of Parliament and ran in”. A reporter named Josh Wingrove, who works for The Globe and Mail in Toronto, said he saw a man rushing into the building, chased by police officers. A Parliament librarian then saw a man with a rifle walking through the corridors of Parliament. Video taken by a journalist inside Parliament’s Hall of Honour appeared to show a gunman being struck down by police gunfire. Veterans affairs minister Julian Fantino, a former policeman, said Parliament’s head of security, sergeant-at-arms Kevin Vickers, a former member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), had shot a suspect dead. “All the details are not in, but the sergeant-at-arms, a former Mountie, is the one that engaged the gunman, or one of them at least, and stopped this,” Fantino said. “He did a great job and, from what I know, shot the gunman and he is now deceased.” MPs were told to lock themselves in their offices, and stay away from the windows. “If your door does not lock, find a way to barricade the door, if possible. Do not open a door under any circumstances,” said a security alert. Journalists covering Parliament were ordered by police officers at gunpoint to lie on the floor in the foyer in front of the House of Commons. As the drama unfolded, police personnel in dark bulletproof vests and carrying automatic rifles flooded the streets near Parliament. Some took cover behind vehicles and shouted to people to clear the area, saying: “We do not have the suspect in custody. You are in danger here.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the attack as “extremely disturbing”.

REUTERS, NYTNS AND THE TIMES, LONDON