St. Pius X High School shooting
Part of mass shootings in Canada
LocationOttawa, Ontario, Canada
DateOctober 27, 1975 (1975-10-27)
Attack type
School shooting, spree killing, rape
Weapons
Deaths3 (including the perpetrator)
Injured5
PerpetratorRobert 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 third 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 shotgun blast to the head.[1][2][3] Earlier that day, Poulin lured a 17-year-old Sri Lankan female neighbor named Kim Rabot to his family’s home before raping her and stabbing her to death.[4] 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 the attack and was obsessed with sex and pornography, having repeatedly written in his diaries about his desire to experience sex before he died.[5]

A book entitled Rape of a Normal Mind[6] was later written about the incident.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Shooting violence in Canadian schools 1975-2007". The Star. 23 May 2007. Archived from the original on 23 Nov 2007.
  2. ↑ ""Fr. Bob Bedard: no big car, but he's happy (Companions of the Cross).."". Catholic Insight. July 1, 1997 – via The Free Library.
  3. ↑ "Winnipeg woman who survived Ottawa school shooting reflects on La Loche attack". CBC News. January 24, 2016. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  4. ↑ St. Pius X shooting survivor reflects on Newtown killings
  5. ↑ Langman, Peter F. "Expanding the Sample: Five School Shooters" (PDF). pp. 1–2. Retrieved 2010-04-18.
  6. ↑ 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.
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