Here’s a question. How is it that in 2014, in a country newly at war, a gunman carrying a rifle or possibly a double-barrelled shotgun (we can’t say for sure because, according to the authorities, that’s on a need-to-know basis and you, my friend, do not need to know) managed to gun down a Canadian soldier in broad daylight, then make his way to Parliament Hill, then inside the Centre Block, then engage in a protracted gun battle with security, while MPs from all parties, including one with a newborn, scrambled for their lives just steps away?

Here’s another question. How is it that, in the aftermath of this tragedy — the Canadian soldier, a reservist named Nathan Cirillo from Hamilton who was standing guard at the National War Memorial, later died of his injuries — the people of Ottawa, and indeed the entire country, were for hours kept almost entirely in the dark by official sources, including the Prime Minister’s Office, and were left to rely instead on media reports?

Here’s a third question: How is it that a cabinet minister not in charge of a security portfolio, Jason Kenney, was the first to reveal, on Twitter no less, that the first victim in this attack, Cirillo, had died? It would have been nostalgically old-fashioned, would it not, for the minister to wait and allow the police or the military to perform that function, just to be absolutely certain that the proper channels were respected? So 20th Century. In future, given the all-purpose, speedy convenience of Twitter, perhaps we can expect the deaths of Canadian soldiers overseas to be announced there as well.

Here’s a fourth question: How can it be that, when a news conference eventually did materialize, at around 2:30 pm — more than four hours after the first shots were fired — the august senior officials assembled, from the RCMP and Ottawa Police Service and the City of Ottawa, could offer little more than a mishmash of boilerplate and talking points, in lieu of hard information that might have reassured terrified citizens that, though the situation was fluid and still dangerous, someone was getting on top of it?

No disrespect whatever to my colleagues, who did a superb job of threading stories, analysis and eyewitness accounts together, as the events unfolded. But where were the people in charge? A man guarding the closest thing we have to a national shrine was shot and killed at point-blank range and two more, including a Parliamentary security officer, were injured. This was not a mass-casualty attack. But it could very easily have been. At this writing, 4 pm ET, much of Ottawa remained under lockdown. MPs remained shuttered behind their office doors, some of them, according to reports, barricaded with chairs. Earlier in the day, young staffers hid under desks, harkening back to the horrific stories of school kids hiding during the Columbine massacre. Some downtown office buildings were being evacuated and all vehicle traffic was shut down in the city core, near Parliament.

Yet police could not or would not say, despite repeated questioning from reporters, whether there might in fact be several gunmen, as was widely reported earlier in the day, or whether there was just the one who was shot and killed inside the Centre Block, after a barrage of gunfire. It was quite clear mid-afternoon that they didn’t know, couldn’t or wouldn’t say whether there were more shooters.

Ottawa Police Chief Charles Bordeleau and RCMP Assistant Commissioner Gilles Michaud seemed more interested in justifying the lack of answers than providing any. Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson called it a “sad and tragic day.” Well, yes. But what should Ottawa residents, deeply frightened by the prospect of further attacks by possible multiple attackers, do? On that score, there was the sound of crickets.

Here’s what Jason MacDonald, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s director of communications, had to say on his boss’s behalf, at around noon, lightly paraphrased: An attack occurred, thoughts and prayers with the victims, PM being briefed, police are on the case. The White House took questions from journalists in Washington mid-day. In Ottawa, from the federal government that had just been attacked, there was — as is the custom these days — next to nothing. It was, Harper was quoted as saying, “a despicable act.” More later.

The 9/11 attacks occurred 13 years ago. Since then we’ve seen Bali, Madrid, London, Mumbai, the Toronto 18 plot, and now, war with the Islamic State. Just two days past, a soldier was run down by a Canadian Islamist zealot in what was apparently a terrorist attack. Yet faced with this new assault, in which critical systems failed, in which MPs at the very seat of power were forced to run for their lives, the official response is — silence?

It’s incompetence. Canadians, faced with this debacle, have every right to be terrified.