Dawson college shooting survivor now serves as Montreal police officer 20 years later

Two decades ago, James Santos saw his friend die in a shooting at a Montreal college . Now, he is a Montreal police officer, working for the force he says saved his life that day.

Sunday marks the 20th anniversary of the shooting. On Sept. 13, 2006, a gunman entered Dawson college and opened fire on students in the hall. He killed 18-year-old Anastasia De Sousa and injured 16 others, according to a coroner’s report from 2008.

Santos, then a 17-year-old student, was having lunch with De Sousa that day. The cafeteria was packed and the two found a free table close to the entrance, he recalled in an interview with The Canadian Press.

“We were talking about our weekend and what we did and we had laughs — and then, all of a sudden, I see the shooter walk in,” he said.

When he realized the man had a real weapon, Santos dove behind some chairs. De Sousa, who couldn’t see the shooter, stood up.

“She turned around facing the shooter and basically one of the first shots was directed to my friend,” recalled Santos.

“That’s when I realized she got hit by one of the rounds near the abdomen. So I tried to console her, tell her that I was next to her and that everything will be alright,” he said.

Soon, the shooter turned his attention back to Santos. He told Santos to get up and get in front of him, essentially acting as a human shield. Santos obeyed.

“I didn’t want to anger him because I believed that Anastasia was still there, and I also had other friends that were trapped,” he said.

He tried to talk the shooter down. At that moment, Santos recalled, he accepted that he would die.

He fed the shooter white lies about the layout of the school, telling him one corridor led to a janitor’s closet or that another led nowhere.

When the shooter asked Santos how De Sousa was doing, Santos didn’t know what to say. At that point, he still hoped his friend was alive. So he told the shooter that he wasn’t sure and asked him to let him get her help.

“He didn’t say anything — he just loaded his magazine into a semi automatic and walked over to her, he unloaded all his 12 rounds on her, and then he came back and he told me, ‘Well, now you have nothing to worry about,’” said Santos.

Santos froze. Later, when the shooter held another student at gunpoint, Santos snapped, yelling at the shooter to leave the student be.