In a brief and tear-filled telephone interview on Thursday, Susan Bibeau said she did not know what to say to those hurt in the attack.
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Just before 10am on Wednesday local time (1am AEDT Thursday), a gunman shot and killed Corporal Nathan Cirillo and then opened fire on the country's Parliament buildings.
"Can you ever explain something like this?" she said. "We are sorry."
Investigators offered little information about the gunman in Ottawa, identified as 32-year-old petty criminal Michael Zehaf-Bibeau.
Canadian police conceded on Thursday that Zehaf-Bibeau was the lone gunman in the second attack in three days in what the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper described as terrorism.
Zehaf-Bibeau was a Canadian convert to Islam whose passport had been seized by authorities, federal sources say.
His mother said she was devastated for the victims of the attack.
"If I'm crying, it's for the people," she said, struggling to hold back tears. "Not for my son."
She and her husband had earlier sent the AP a lengthy email expressing horror and sadness at what happened.
"I am mad at my son," the email said, explaining that he seemed lost "and did not fit in".
"I, his mother, spoke with him last week over lunch, I had not seen him for over five years before that," the email said. "So I have very little insight to offer."
Government officials credited Parliament Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers, 58, with shooting the attacker just outside the MPs' caucus rooms.
MPs gave Mr Vickers a rousing standing ovation for saving their lives as Parliament resumed on Thursday morning.
Court records that appear to be the gunman's show that he had a long rap sheet, with a string of convictions for assault, robbery, drug and weapons offences, and other crimes.
Zehaf-Bibeau was reportedly born Michael Joseph Hall but changed his name, sources said.
The Globe and Mail newspaper said he was recently designated a "high-risk traveller" by the Canadian government - meaning it was feared he would travel abroad to commit crimes - and that his passport had been seized.
No group, Islamic or otherwise, claimed responsibility for either the attack in Ottawa or the one near Montreal on Monday.
