DRUG BUST HELPED LIMIT CARNAGE AT DAWSON

Students Have Mixed Feelings About Role

When a pair of Dawson College students were hauled into a security
guard's office for fooling around with hashish, they had no idea
their detention would help cut short a killer's rampage.

Sean and Albert, who did not want their real names used, were the
subject of the "unrelated matter" Montreal police have said brought a
squad car to the school just as Kimveer Gill cut down his first
victims on Sept. 13.

The quick intervention by police, who ran into the school after Gill
- - just as they arrived for the minor drug bust - is credited with
limiting the carnage.

One student was killed and 20 other people were injured. Gill killed
himself after being cornered by police.

But none of that could have been foreseen when a vigilant security
guard was alerted to two suspicious-looking students lounging outside
one of the school's main entrances.

"I was just playing with a little bit of hash, figuring out the best
way to put it in my cigarette, with no intention, necessarily, of
smoking it," Albert, a 19-year-old student at the college, told the
Canadian Press.

He and Sean were promptly hauled into security guard Vince Pascale's office.

The two students had enough illegal drugs on them for Pascale to
immediately call the police.

At that point, it appeared to Sean and Albert that Lady Luck was not
on their side. They were waiting anxiously for police to arrive when,
around 12:45 p.m., one security guard suddenly exclaimed: "I think
there's somebody shooting in the school."

"We figured we were free," said Sean, an 18-year-old commerce student.

Their next realization was more sobering.

"We saw a kid on the ground, shot, bleeding from his stomach and his
shoulder," Albert added.

The students spent the next several weeks in a semi-stunned state,
oscillating between coping with the tragedy and wondering about their
future at the school.

Albert and Sean were eventually hauled out of class one day to meet
with a school administrator. Following a stern lecture from the
administrator, it was made clear disciplinary action would end with a warning.

They have mixed feelings about their role in the tragedy.

"I didn't want to be glorified," Albert said. "It was just a
coincidence. And we played a big part in that coincidence for our foolishness."

Dawson officials have been effusive in their praise for the police
officers, who jumped into action when they witnessed Gill begin his rampage.

"It's that kind of action that saved it from being a total massacre,"
Dawson spokesperson Donna Varrica said.

Sean and Albert even lauded the security guard who caught them in the
first place.

"He ended (up) being a really huge part in saving a lot of people,"
Sean said of Pascale.

But some students who know Sean and Albert's story have offered them
their own somewhat qualified appreciation.

"We're not necessarily proud of what we did, but some people that did
get shot sort of told us, like, thank you," Sean said.