Canadian gunman 'killed himself'

Kimveer Gill posed with guns for his blog

The man who went on a shooting spree at a college in the Canadian city of Montreal died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, police say.

The police had said 25-year-old Kimveer Gill, who killed a young woman and injured 19 other people at Dawson College, was gunned down by officers.

But a post-mortem examination revealed that a wound in his arm from a police bullet was not fatal.

Four people remain critically ill in hospital following the assault.

The BBC's Lee Carter says the incident has raised questions about how effective Canada's gun controls are.

I was in my calculus class when I heard three shots... we saw one guy on the floor bleeding Jose Rafael Heredia Dawson College student Profile of the gunman

Gill, from Montreal, had a blog on a website devoted to the Goth sub-culture in which he referred to himself as an "Angel of Death" and said his ambition was to die in a hail of bullets.

It contains a photo gallery of more than 50 pictures showing him in a variety of poses with different guns and wearing a long black trench coat.

Crime scene

Clad in black and carrying three weapons, Gill opened fire outside Dawson College, then entered the canteen when it was crowded with students and staff during lunch hour on Wednesday.

Police have ruled out terrorism or racism as a motive.

Police chief Delorme said Gill had fired randomly at no particular target, until police arrived when he began aiming at them.

SCHOOL SHOOTINGS IN CANADA 28 April, 1999: 14-year-old boy kills one student, wounds one other at a high school in Taber, Alberta - eight days after US Columbine massacre 24 August, 1992: Professor Valery Fabrikant kills four colleagues at Concordia University, Montreal 6 December, 1989: Marc Lepine, 25, kills 14 women at Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal, then kills himself 28 May, 1975: 16-year-old high school student kills a teacher and a student, wounds 13 others before killing himself in Brampton, Ontario Readers' pictures Press shock at rampage

The college is closed until Monday as police continue to investigate the large crime scene that includes a significant portion of the building and the adjoining streets.

The city of Montreal, known in Canada for its cafe culture and fun atmosphere, is in shock and mourning, our correspondent says.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper called the shootings "a cowardly and senseless act of violence".

The shooting spree has revived memories of the December 1989 attack at Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique, when a gunman shot and killed 14 young women before turning the gun on himself.

Gun laws were tightened after that massacre but the current government has plans to partly roll them back.

The conservative government, which took over the reins of power at the beginning of the year, plans to scrap a controversial gun registry designed to keep records on every owner of firearms in Canada. The registry has been criticised for being expensive and bureaucratic.

Mr Harper has said he will not be deterred from changing Canada's gun laws, saying that the existing regulations did not prevent Wednesday's tragedy.