| St. Pius X High School shooting | |
|---|---|
| Location | Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
| Date | October 27, 1975 |
Attack type | School shooting, spree killing, rape |
| Weapons |
|
| Deaths | 3 (including the perpetrator) |
| Injured | 5 |
| Perpetrator | Robert Poulin |
The St. Pius X High School shooting occurred on October 27, 1975, at St. Pius X High School in Ottawa, Ontario. It was Canada's second recorded school shooting. The gunman, Robert Poulin, an 18-year-old St. Pius student, opened fire on his classmates with a shotgun, killing a 17-year-old classmate named Mark Hough and wounding five others before killing himself with a single shotgun blast to the head.[1][2][3] Earlier that day, Poulin had raped and sodomized a 17-year-old Sri Lankan girl named Kim Rabot in his own bedroom before stabbing her to death. That afternoon, he had traveled to the St. Pius X High School to embark upon his shooting spree.
Poulin hailed from a military family and held military aspirations of his own, having repeatedly remarked to his parents of his desire to become a pilot within the Royal Canadian Air Force. These were largely thwarted by his physical condition and psychological immaturity, resulting in his being rejected from the officer training program he applied to. His physical problems included poor eyesight and a chest deformity.
Poulin had been suicidal for at least three years prior to his attack and was obsessed with sex and pornography, having repeatedly written in his diaries about his desire to experience sex before he died.[4]
A book entitled Rape of a Normal Mind[5] was later written about the incident.
See also
- Centennial Secondary School shooting, Canada's first recorded school shooting
References
- ^ "Shooting violence in Canadian schools 1975-2007". The Star. 23 May 2007. Archived from the original on 23 Nov 2007.
- ^ ""Fr. Bob Bedard: no big car, but he's happy (Companions of the Cross).."". Catholic Insight. July 1, 1997 – via The Free Library.
- ^ "Winnipeg woman who survived Ottawa school shooting reflects on La Loche attack". CBC News. January 24, 2016. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
- ^ Langman, Peter F. "Expanding the Sample: Five School Shooters" (PDF). pp. 1–2. Retrieved 2010-04-18.
- ^ Cobb, Christopher and Avery, Bob. (1977). Rape of a Normal Mind. Toronto: Paperjacks.ISBN 0-7701-0025-2
Cited works and further reading
- Cawthorne, Nigel; Tibballs, Jeffrey (1994). Killers. Boxtree. pp. 265–270. ISBN 0-7522-0850-0.
- Cobb, Chris (1977). Rape of a Normal Mind. Paper Jacks. ISBN 978-0-770-10025-4.
- Mellor, Lee (2013). Rampage: Canadian Mass Murder and Spree Killing. Dundurn. ISBN 978-1-459-70722-1.
External links
- 28 October 1975 edition of the Ottawa Sun
- 2012 Ottawa Sun interview with St. Pius X High School shooting survivor Barclay Holbrook