We may never know the answer to the question everyone in Montreal is asking Wednesday: why did an armed man go on a shooting rampage at the English language Dawson College during the lunch hour?

It's what thousands are wondering after a lone gunman set off a siege of panic and injury at the school just after noon.

Witnesses reported seeing a man dressed in black and sporting a Mohawk haircut pull up to the campus, grab what appeared to be an AK-47 rifle and begin firing randomly at those sitting outside.

He then headed for the cafeteria, where the carnage continued.

When it was over at least 20 people lay wounded and one - a female student at the school - died from her injuries.

A spokesman for Montreal General Hospital confirms it's taken 11 patients, eight of whom remain in critical condition. All were hit in the head, abdomen, chest or limbs. Only two are considered stable.

Initial reports said that four people were killed in the incident but authorities insist that wasn't accurate.

SWAT teams had earlier surrounded the school, going from room to room after initial witness reports of multiple gunmen. But in the end, police are certain there was only one, and he was - in their words - 'neutralized' minutes after they arrived on the scene.

Cops confronted the man, believed to be in his 20s, and one officer fired at him and missed. More police showed up, forcing the gunman to back up against a vending machine.

He apparently fired at them, yelling 'Get back, Get back!" as they tried to approach him. They continued to return the salvos and for a few minutes, the quiet lunchroom became a giant battle zone.

At the same time, other authorities were trying to escort as many students as possible out of the room, even as both sides were exchanging bullets. Most crawled on their bellies to escape the scene, all the while wondering if they'd make it out alive.

Eventually, a marksman found his target and the mysterious murderer slumped to the ground, his rage and his life both at an end.

Those who had been enjoying a quiet lunch just moments before couldn't believe what was going on.

"At first I thought it was a firecracker," 17-year-old Anita Barone outlines. "Then I turned around and I saw him. He was dressed in a black trenchcoat and I saw his hand firing a handgun in every direction."

As she made her escape on her knees, Barone remembers passing by one of the victims, a woman who was bleeding from an exit wound, lying face down in her own blood. "Don't look, don't look," the officers barked. "Keep going out." And she did.

Afterwards, police weren't saying much about the confrontation, assuring only that it was one man with one rifle.

"For now, I am limiting it to one suspect who died after a police intervention on site," is all Montreal police Chief Yvan Delorme will reveal.

He refused to say if all the victims were female and downplays any suggestions that racism or terrorism was at the core of the violence.

"There's no information that leads us to believe that it's something other than what happened at the scene," he concludes.

The motive for the incident remains a mystery but it's clear what the gunman's presence did to an otherwise quiet day on campus.

Students and staff fled screaming in panic as the rounds ricocheted in the hallways.

Teachers immediately began pounding on classroom doors, telling people to get out as fast as possible, unsure where the gunman might be heading next.

Many were led to a nearby shopping centre for sanctuary.

One student recalls actually seeing the shooter as he fled his classroom.

"When I got out I heard people screaming and leaving the school so I tried to turn my right to find a hallway that is empty," he remembers. "I saw the criminal actually running up and so I just started running up the side and got out of the school.

"They were wearing black coats so when I was leaving I actually saw one. I'm still freaking out and I ran away. I didn't exactly see. It was the end of the hallway and the hallways are really long. I kept on running.

"I didn't see because he was giving me his back. I was not facing his face. I was facing his back. He was holding something but I didn't see exactly what he was holding. Something big, not something small."

Devansh Shri Vastava was in the cafeteria when the assailant opened fire.

"He had a laser gun or something, a big rifle, and he just started shooting at people," he relates. "We all ran upstairs. There were cops firing. It was so crazy. I was terrified. The guy was shooting at people randomly. He didn't care he was just shooting at everybody. I just got out."

"He had one of them SWAT army guns and just started shooting up the place. I ran up to the third floor and I looked down and he was still shooting," adds 19-year-old Derick Osei. "He was hiding behind the vending machines and he came out with a gun and started pointing and pointed at me. So I ran up the stairs. I saw a girl get shot in the leg."
Word quickly about what was going on. And even those who weren't near the shooter cowered in fear that he might find them.

"We just heard gunshots, and somebody had a cell phone up," a student relates. "His friend told him that people were shooting, gunshots, people were already injured.

"Our teacher asked us to barricade the door, putting lots of tables and we had even added the piano.

"At one point a cop came upstairs. We asked him who the hell he was, because we couldn't see. We blocked the whole thing. We had to remove everything and he just told us to go down the exit, run as fast as we can."

Another young man was sure he heard the gunshots going off.

"They sounded more like metal bars or a trolley hitting a wall. I think they were gunshots for sure. People were scared that the killers were actually gonna, you know, go into a room, but I...reassured them that it wouldn't happen because the school is a huge place."

Jason Carpenter looked out the window during class and realized things weren't right. "We saw two stretchers come down the street with the bloodied bodies on them. At that point we knew something very serious was going on in the college."

Andie Bennett is with CHUM Radio's Team 990, located just a block away from the scene.

She first became aware of the incident around the noon hour, when panicked students came fleeing by her workplace.

"They heard a lot of shots. I spoke with one person that was in the cafeteria where I believe the first shots were fired, and he said he just heard shooting and then everyone is saying 'get out of the school, get out of the school!'" she remembers.

"There were a few students that saw somebody that had been shot who was kind of sitting on the corner outside holding his hand for about ten minutes, and then he was taken away in an ambulance."

One witness recounts tales of seeing an armed Goth-garbed male with long black hair in the building, bringing back memories of the Columbine shooting in Colorado in April 1999.

And that's what others were thinking as well. "I mean, this reminds me of Columbine," a young man relates, still shaken by the experience. "And I don't want to think about it yet."

Distraught parents descended on the scene and local hospitals despite pleas from authorities to stay away.

Cell phone service in the city disappeared for a time as panicked students and families tried to confirm their loved ones were O.K.

All the subways were also shut down to prevent any other suspects from escaping.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has issued a statement on the incident, vowing to help those hurt in the violence.

"Today we have witnessed a cowardly and senseless act of violence unfold at Montreal's Dawson College," it reads. "Our primary concern right now is to ensure the safety and recovery of all those who were injured during this tragedy.

"We continue to monitor the situation as it evolves. Our government has been and will continue to be in close contact with the City of Montreal and the Government of Quebec.

"On behalf of the Government of Canada and all Canadians, our thoughts and prayers are with the injured and their loved ones, and to the students and staff of the college who are all victims of this terrible tragedy."

A special hotline has been set up for those looking to inquire about family members who may be attending the school. If you know someone at Dawson College, call 514-280-2880 or 2806 for more information. The school will remain closed until at least next Monday.

It's a terrible kind of déjà vu for residents in the city. Many still remember the infamous crime of Marc Lepine, who stormed L'Ecole Polytechnique on December 6, 1989, randomly shooting as many women as he could.

Memorials for the 14 he killed are still held every year, but there's no indication on the motive for this latest sudden and senseless violence.

About Dawson College

Enrolment: Student population numbers about 10,000, enrolled in more than 50 fields of study.

Type: Dawson is a junior college which is attended by students after Grade 11 because there is no Grade 12 or 13 in Quebec. The institution is home to students who are usually enrolled in a two-year pre-university program or a three-year technical program.

History: Named for Sir William Dawson, McGill University principal from 1855 to 1893. Opened in fall 1969 as Quebec's first English-language CEGEP (college d'enseignement general et professionnel), an educational institution on the post-secondary level.

Location: In a historic building occupying an entire city block in the Westmount district near downtown Montreal not far from the old Montreal Forum. Connected to an underground metro station.