Kimveer Gill

Infobox Mass Murderer
name = Kimveer Gill


image_size = 216px
caption = From his Vampirefreaks.com profile
birthname = Kimveer Gill
occupation =
birth = birth date|1981|7|9|mf=y
location = Montreal, Canada
death = death date and age|2006|9|13|1981|7|9
deathplace = Westmount, Canada
cause = Self-inflicted gunshot-wound to the head
penalty =
date = September 13, 2006
targets = Dawson College
locations = Westmount, Canada
fatalities = 1
injuries = 19
weapons = Glock pistol
Beretta Cx4 Storm
Norinco HP9-1

Kimveer Gill (July 9, 1981 – September 13, 2006) was the Canadian shooter involved in a school shooting referred to as the Dawson College shooting at Dawson College in Westmount, Quebec, Canada on September 13, 2006. [ [http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/09/14/gunman-shooting.html CBC News: Montreal gunman called himself 'angel of death'] ] He injured nineteen people, killed one, then committed suicide by shooting himself in the head, after being shot in the arm by police.

Personal background

Kimveer Gill graduated from Rosemere High School, and lived in the borough of Fabreville in Laval, Quebec at the time of the attack and his suicide.

Gill briefly received military training from the Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit School in Saint-Jean, Quebec, from January 17 to February 16, 1999. He did not complete his basic training for unknown reasons. [cite news|title=Shooter had brief military service |work=theglobeandmail.com|url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060915.wxshooting-gill16/BNStory/National/home |accessdate=2007-03-20] He was deemed unsuitable for military service and agreed to leave before receiving extensive weapons training.

Gill was a member of a shooting club and visited the Ville Saint-Pierre facility occasionally before the day of the shooting. [ [http://lcn.canoe.com/lcn/infos/regional/archives/2006/09/20060916-071848.html lcn.canoe.com] ] [http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/canada_world/story.html?id=b3472ac0-b095-40b6-84f4-8b4e69d0930b Killer's Mom Noticed Change In Son's Mood] September 16, 2006 report by CanWest news wire reporter Sue Montgomery, accessed online at Leader-Post website September 20, 2006.] .

Gill's funeral was held on September 19, 2006 in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec. There was strict security outside, and only invited guests were allowed to attend the ceremony. The ceremony was held the same day as the funeral for the only other fatality of the incident, Anastasia De Sousa.

Kimveer Gill described himself in his profile on Vampirefreaks.com, which is no longer accessible:

"His name is Trench. You will come to know him as the Angel of Death. […] He is male. He is 25 years of age. He lives in Quebec. He finds that it is an O.K place to live. He is not a people person. He has met a handful of people in his life who are decent. But he finds the vast majority to be worthless, no good, kniving, betraying, lying, deceptive, motherfuckers. Work sucks… School sucks… Life sucks… What else can I say. Metal and Goth kick ass. Life is like a video game, you gotta die sometime." [ [http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/09/14/gunman-shooting.html CBC News: Montreal gunman called himself 'angel of death'] ]

He also wrote,

"I hate this world, I hate the people in it, I hate the way people live, I hate God, I hate the deceivers, I hate betrayers, I hate religious zealots, I hate everything… I hate so much… (I could write 1,000 more lines like these, but does it really matter, does anyone even care)." [Associated Press, Allan Chernoff and Katherine Wojtecki [http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/09/14/montreal.shooting/index.html "College shooter showed rage, no motive" ] cnn.com ]

In extensive interviews with friends, teachers, and former colleagues, Kimveer Gill was described as a quiet, nice, sensitive, and generous person. He was described as "the nicest, gentlest person" with "a heart of gold". Despite early media reports, most people from his high school years remember him having friends and certainly never being bullied. His friends say that near the end, Kimveer Gill had a fascination with 9/11 conspiracy theories, the war in Iraq, and the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. He liked Jack Daniel's whiskey and the odd hit of ecstasy. In the last few months of his life, he cut off contact with friends, and seemed sadder than ever. [Montreal Gazette, Sue Montgomerey [http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/story.html?id=b80740cf-e43e-411d-a131-b07ebaa8335b "Who was Kimveer Gill?" ] /www.Canada.com/montrealgazette]

Dawson College shooting

:"Main article: Dawson College shooting

On September 13, 2006, Gill arrived at Dawson College in Montreal and opened fire on students within the main building, killing Anastasia De Sousa, 18, and wounding nineteen other people before officer Denis Côté and other police officers shot him in the arm. Gill then turned his gun on himself and committed suicide, according to witnesses, authorities, and the autopsy report. Authorities concluded the attack was premeditated, after a short suicide note was found on Gill's body. [ [http://lcn.canoe.com/lcn/infos/regional/archives/2006/09/20060915-165141.html lcn.canoe.com] ]

Possible attacks on other schools

In mid-January 2007, the Montreal police department revealed additional information mentioned that Gill planned on committing similar attacks at other institutions across the city of Montreal. Among those were Vanier College, the Université de Montréal, and a secondary school in Laval. Some plans and maps were found in Gill's car near the site of the Dawson College event. [ cite news| title = Le tireur avait d'autres écoles dans sa mire (Shooter planned similar attacks to other schools|work=LCN|2007-01-18|url=http://lcn.canoe.com/lcn/infos/regional/archives/2007/01/20070118-073350.html|accessdate2007-01-18]

Possible motives

In Kimveer's online journal there are several possible motives. Some point to the following entries as being particularly telling:

cquotetxt
People kill each other
Rape women
Molest children
Deceive and betray
Destroy lives
Bullying and torturing each other at school
What kind of world is this? What the fuck is wrong with people. This world….this life, is worst than hell.
You see
You see what kind of world we live in
No
No, I don’t think you see
You still don’t|

cquotetxt
I’m so sick of hearing about jocks and preps making life hard for the goths and others who look different, or are different.
The other day on T.V. they were talking about this 15 year old kid that was killed by the cops, cuz’ he took a fake gun to school. Then they said he was emotionally disturbed and suicidal. Aaaaa, Duh!! If people were making your life a living hell wouldn’t you be hurt emotionally.
How come no one ever talkes about those MOTHER FUCKING JOCKS AND PREPS who’s fault it is. Oh no. Heaven forbid. We couldn’t posibly say that. Why does society applaude jocks? I don’t understand. They are the worse kind of people on earth. And the preps are no better, they think they’re better than others… but they’re not.
And all of society applaudes the jocks and preps. As if we are all supposed to be like them. Newsflash motherfuckers:
We will never be like them. NEVER.|

cquotetxt
Stop Bullying
It’s not only the bully’s fault you know!!
It’s the teachers and principals fault for turning a blind eye, just cuz it’s not their job. You fuckers are pathetic.
It’s the police’s fault for not doing anything when people complain (oops, my mistake, the cops are corrupt sons of whores, so it’s not like they can do anything about it.)
FUCK THE POLICE
It’s society’s fault for acting like it’s normal for people to be assholes to each other. Society disgusts me.
It’s everyone’s fault for being so apathetic towards fucking everything that doesn’t affect them personally. FUCK YOU SOCIETY. [ cite news| title = Chronologie d'un folie (Kimveer's online Journal (full text)|work=La Presse|2006-09-15|url=http://kimveer-gill-news.newslib.com/story/9375-1/] |

A handwritten diary found by police at Gill's home revealed the extent of Gill's anger. A police source said, "It was very obvious his state of mind was deteriorating greatly over the last three weeks." [http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/canada_world/story.html?id=b3472ac0-b095-40b6-84f4-8b4e69d0930b Killer's Mom Noticed Change In Son's Mood] September 16, 2006 report by CanWest news wire reporter Sue Montgomery, accessed online at Leader-Post website September 20, 2006.] . In a statement made on Friday, October 20, 2006, the head of the major crime squad for Montreal police Richard Dupuis states: "We know he was angry against the world, so it was a kind of vengeance… There is no explanation why Dawson. It could be Dawson, it could be another place". [cite news| title = Dawson killer's friend charged with uttering threats|2006-10-21|url=http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2006/10/20/dawson-threats.html]

VampireFreaks online profile

An online image gallery on Gill's Vampirefreaks.com blog ( [http://modseven.de/trench/ Mirror1] [http://www.zacowens.com/m/dawson/ Mirror2] ), under his handle "fatality666" contained more than 50 photos [ at the camera, or wears a long black trench coat or what he identifies as combat boots. Some of the photos showing Gill with weapons were taken by a friend, according to his mother. [ [http://www.canada.com/topics/news/features/dawsonshooting/story.html?id=689b60e6-7ded-447c-b9b9-3d6ff521107b&k=89135 canada.com] ]

Among his many posted grievances [http://kimveergill.net/blog/?page_id=3 (Link To Blog Entries)] , he stated that he hated school and work. [ [http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/09/14/montreal.shooting/index.html cnn.com] ] Gill also referenced more than 50 movies, and 3 TV shows.

Video games

Although widely reported in the media [Lagace, Patrick [http://www.torontosun.com/News/Canada/2006/09/14/1838305-sun.html Killer loved Columbine game ] Toronto Sun ] Associated Press, Allan Chernoff and Katherine Wojtecki [http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/09/14/montreal.shooting/index.html "College shooter showed rage, no motive" ] cnn.com ] [ Patrick Dugan [http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20070313/dugan_01.shtml Soapbox: Why You Owe the Columbine RPG] Gamasutra] [ [http://cultureraven.typepad.com/roll_the_bones/2007/02/super_columbine.html "Roll the Bones:Super Columbine Massacre and the Society of Risk"] Culture Raven] [Clive Thompson [http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,72491-0.html "I, Columbine Killer"] Wirednews] ,
Super Columbine Massacre was not listed as one of Gill's favourite video games or mentioned anywhere in his blog or profile. [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bd/Fatality666_profile.gifscreenshot of profile] [ [http://kimveergill.net/blog/?page_id=3 Link To Blog VampireFreaks Blog Entries] ]

These are the all the video games Kimveer reported in the section of the profile titled "Favorite Games:" (in actual order):

Favourite music

Kimveer's self-reported love of "Goth" was the topic of media interest, and it was widely reported that the word "Goth", in Kimveer's writings, was a reference to the alternative industrial and goth subculture rather than a reference to the unrelated and lesser known gothic rock music.September 14, 2006. [http://www.side-line.com/news_comments.php?id=17308_0_2_0_C Shooting by Canadian trench coat killer affects industrial / goth scene] Side-line.com. Retrieved on March 13, 2007.] The actual list of favourite bands and music on Gill profile has been described in the media as a "who's who of heavy metal". [ [http://www.nriinternet.com/NRI_Murdered/CANADA/Montreal/Kimveer_Gill/index.htm NRI Kimveer Gill, Montreal native gunman called himself 'angel of death',kills One and injuring 20 NRI Retrieved on March 22, 2007] ] [ [http://www.starvox.net/intview/mm.htm Interview with Mick Mercer] Starvox.net] [Kyshah Hell [http://www.morbidoutlook.com/lifestyle/articles/2002_06_mickmercer.html Interview with Mick Mercer Morbidoutlook.com] ] [ [http://www.brokenanklebooks.com/AuthorsMercer.htm Mick Mercer] Broken Ankle Books] Mick Mercer stated, of Kimveer Gill, that he was "not a Goth. Never a Goth. The bands he listed as his chosen form of ear-bashing were relentlessly metal and standard grunge, rock and goth metal, with some industrial presence.", "Kimveer Gill listened to metal", "He had nothing whatsoever to do with Goth" and further commented "I realise that like many Neos, Kimveer Gill may even have believed he somehow was a Goth, because they're only really noted for spectacularly missing the point." Mercer emphasized that he was not blaming Heavy Metal music for Gill's actions and "It doesn’t matter actually what music he liked.". [Mick Mercer [http://mickmercer.livejournal.com/672571.html Mick Mercer talks about Kimveer Gill] mickmercer.livejournal.com] .

No specific involvement with any actual music scene has been established or documented.

Kimveer Gill's online profile lists his favourite bands as follow (in actual order):

In a separate section of Gill's profile, titled "Other Favorite Stuff:", the following is found:

The Megadeth song "A Tout Le Monde" was blamed by the media for the shootings. He had mentioned in his online blog that he had listened to it the day of the shootings. However, Megadeth's singer Dave Mustaine said Gill had "turned a beautiful song into something ugly and nasty" and that Gill was "not worthy of being a Megadeth fan." Mustaine called the song "a gift to those who are in the process of healing" after the shootings, distancing his music from Gill's interpretation of it. [ [http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=59377 road runner records] ]

Coincidentally, the date of the shooting, 9/13, is also Dave Mustaine's birthday.

Other likes and dislikes

Kimveer Gill also writes his likes and dislikes in his profile. His likes, as stated in his Vampirefreaks.com profile, are:

Kimveer Gills dislikes, as stated in his vampirefreaks.com profile, are:

The blog was removed sometime prior to September 14, 2006.September 14, 2006. [http://www.side-line.com/news_comments.php?id=17308_0_2_0_C Shooting by Canadian trench coat killer affects industrial / goth scene] Side-line.com. Retrieved on March 13, 2007.] However, it was accessed heavily in the interval after the killings and its contents were widely reported. [http://kimveergill.net/blog/?page_id=3 (Link To Blog Entries)]

Coroner's Report

In September 2008, the coroner's report into the shooting was released. It recommended that the weapon used in the shooting, a a short-barrelled Beretta Cx4 Storm rifle be banned and that emergency plans be fine-tuned. [cite web
title = Ban Dawson College shooter's gun, coroner recommends
url = http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2008/09/04/mtl-coronerdawson0904.html
work = CBC News
date = 2008-09-04
accessdate = 2008-09-04 ]

ee also

* Dawson College shooting
* School shootings

References

External links

;News articles
* Macleans Magazine : [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=M1ARTM0012975 Gunman Opens Fire at Dawson College]
* Side-Line : [http://www.side-line.com/news_comments.php?id=17308_0_2_0_C Shooting by Canadian trench coat killer affects industrial / goth scene ] Thu, 14 Sep 2006
* CBC News: [http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/09/14/gunman-shooting.html Montreal gunman called himself 'angel of death'] Thu, 14 Sep 2006 08:54:32 EDT
* CNN News: [http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/09/14/montreal.shooting/index.html College shooter showed rage, no motive]
* CTV News: [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060914/gill_profile_060914/20060914?hub=TopStories Blog paints chilling portrait of 'Angel of Death'] Thu, 14 Sep 2006 10:18 AM EDT
* USA Today: [http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-09-13-montreal-shooting_x.htm Gunman slays 1, wounds 19 at Montreal college] 9/14/2006 7:26 AM ET
* Canada.com: [http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=70ca42a5-f979-446f-a9c3-61949f44c737&k=38269 A killer's dark mind] Fri, 15 Sep 2006
* CBC News: [http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2006/09/15/aftermath-shooting.html College shooter Gill obsessed with guns] Friday, September 15, 2006 | 7:10 PM ET
* CBC News: [http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/dawson-college/ Shootings in a Montreal college] Friday, September 15, 2006
* CBC News: [http://www.cbc.ca/cp/national/061223/n122308A.html Montreal college shootings reignite fierce battle over gun control in Canada] Saturday, December 23, 2006 | 12:50 PM ET

;General
* Super Columbine Massacre, [http://www.columbinegame.com/DawsonCollege.htm statement of the game's creator.]
* [http://inspectorlohmann.blogspot.com/2006/09/futsie.html Lohmann on 'futsie'] , a more general analysis of this kind of tragedy
* [http://www.kimveergill.net/blog/ Dawson College Shooting Support Page]
* [http://thetrenchcoat.com/archives/1488-Kimveer-Gill-was-here.html Kimveer Gill Was Here]
* [http://kimveergill.net/blog/?page_id=3 Kimveer Gill's Journal]
* [http://raincoaster.com/2006/09/14/kimveer-gills-blog/ Blog On Kimveer Gill]
* [http://www.crimelibrary.com/news/original/0906/1801_kimveer_gill.html Death Knight: The Story Of Kimveer Gill]
* [http://www.crimelibrary.com/news/original/0906/2001_kimveer_gill.html Kimveer Gill's Victims Try To Cope With Tragedy]
* [http://www.cbc.ca/news/interactives/map-dawson-floorplan/ Dawson Shooting Timeline]
* [http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/societe/2006/09/18/003-Accueil-Dawson.shtml Dawson Shooting Dossier (French)]
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=YPQlDeV3_Go Cell Phone Video Of Dawson College Shooting]