Multiple victims in Nova Scotia shootings, suspect arrested

More info. Good old RCMP being as transparent as always

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Quote :

"Mike MacKay, who lives just off the Glooscap Trail in Portapique, N.S., said he saw police cars on the Portapique Beach Road around 11:30 p.m. Saturday, across the Portapique River from his home.

"We saw a fire down the road, and thought that's all that it was. Then we saw a second fire and a third fire," said MacKay in a phone interview from his home Sunday morning.

The RCMP would not comment on the report of multiple house fires when asked by CBC News on Sunday morning.

Also this sounds like he stole an actual RCMP car/uniform, not "had a car resembling an RCMP car." I guess they're too embarrassed to admit it.

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Anyway, I wonder how much lockdown had to do with the motive.

So, to my understanding, this was like a Martin Byrant type shooting where this guy went around shooting up this whole town?

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A denture-maker went on a rampage in a small town in Nova Scotia—killing 10 people, including a police officer, and sparking a 12-hour manhunt that ended with his death in a standoff at a gas station 55 miles away.

The Royal Canadian Mountain Police identified the suspect as 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman, who owns denture clinics in Dartmouth and Halifax.

The terrifying incident began late Saturday night in rural Portapique, where Wortman lives, when officers responded to 911 calls about gunfire.

“When police arrived at the scene, member located several casualties inside and outside the home,” Chief Supt. Chris Leather said at a news conference on Sunday evening. “They did not however locate the suspect.”

Police swarmed the area and began hunting for Wortman, who apparently set several buildings on fire before leaving the rural town of 1,600 and heading toward the port city of Halifax.

Wortman made his way through several towns over the course of Sunday morning, with police tweeting out warnings to residents by the hour.

At one point during his escape bid, police said it was possible Wortman was in a vehicle made to look like a police car, and possibly wearing a police uniform. An hour later they tweeted he was believed to be in a small silver SUV, suggesting he had switched vehicles.

Catherine Harrop was working in a cider bar in Elmsdale when police swept through looking for Wortman.

“Two of the armored SWAT vehicles pulled up out front, and a bunch of armed officers in camo got out,” Harrop told The Chronicle Herald. “Two of them came into the Sobeys [food market] and some of the others walked through the parking lot. The ones that came inside told everyone to go into lockdown, lock all the doors, turn off all the lights and stay away from the windows until they gave us the go-ahead to open up again.”

Police apparently cornered the suspect at the Irving gas station and Big Stop restaurant in Enfield. A truck driver there told CTV News he heard a gas station employee shouting.

“She goes, ‘Oh my God, lock the doors, he’s here! And I peek out of the window and I saw some RCMP vehicles and there was four or five uniforms with guns,” the driver said.

Another witness, Glen Hines, said, “All I could hear was gunshots and my wife, I thought I was going to call 911, because she was going into panic, it scared her so bad.”

Paula Hanrahan told The Chronicle Herald she was driving home when she saw the commotion.

“I could see the back end of a silver SUV and, oh my dear, there were more men than I could count in full gear with ‘police’ on the back and assault rifles in their hands,” Hanrahan said.

“All you could hear were the dogs growling, clawing at the pavement to get to this vehicle, and men yelling.”

Other witnesses said that after gunshot rang out, they saw a body on the ground.

Soon after, police said the suspect was “in custody.” CTV News reported that Wortman was killed.

Many details of the incident were still unclear, including what sparked the initial paroxysm of violence and why police believe Wortman was in a phony police car.

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The suspect, police would warn, became mobile. He was soon spotted in Glenholme, N.S., which is located about 18 km away from Portapique, Debert, N.S., 11 km away from his second stop and 30 km south from there in Brookfield, N.S.

“He alone moved across the northern part of the province and committed what appears to be several homicides,” Leather said.
[...]
She pulled over to the side of the road when she saw dozens of police officers, decked out in black vests, surround a silver SUV outside an Irving Big Stop gas station. One officer was on one knee on top of the SUV and had his assault rifle pointed into the car through the sunroof. Several others were laying down on their stomachs on the pavement with their rifles at the ready and appeared to be aiming at the front door of the Big Stop. Overhead, she saw a helicopter fly by. Sirens blared in the distance.

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hvernon wrote:

So, to my understanding, this was like a Martin Byrant type shooting where this guy went around shooting up this whole town?

It seems like it started out as a family annihilation (he fits the family annihilator profile, also). He didn't stay in the same town afterwards, he traveled 55 miles in the direction of Halifax after the initial murders at the home. It's unclear where people were killed, if it was all in the same town at the beginning, or spread out along the way.

Two really weird spree killings in Canada in a one-year period...who would have guessed...and they say WE have gun violence problems....

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Duluth wrote:

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According to this article, the vehicle he used (at first, until he swapped to a chevy SUV) may have been his own; a replica of a police vehicle, as opposed to a stolen police car. Apparently he would purchase ex-police cars at an auction.

Maybe he was planning this for a while?

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More info:

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"A gunman who dressed as a policeman killed at least 13 people, including a female police officer, in the province of Nova Scotia, Canadian police say.

The 12-hour rampage ended in a car chase. The attacker is also dead.

[...]

The gunman shot people in several locations across Nova Scotia which meant authorities were still trying to establish the final death toll, police said on Sunday.

The police warned that there may be more victims.

[...]

RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki said she believed the gunman had an initial "motivation" at the beginning that "turned to randomness", according to CBC News."

Duluth wrote:

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According to this article, the vehicle he used (at first, until he swapped to a chevy SUV) may have been his own; a replica of a police vehicle, as opposed to a stolen police car. Apparently he would purchase ex-police cars at an auction.

This is acting as a reminder for me that I need to update and revise my spreadsheet. I haven't touched it since 14th November last year, when I added Daniil Zasorin's shooting.

From that article you posted. Damn, this guy got surprisingly far with his spree. Like this definitely stands out among rampage killings in that aspect.

"Photos and videos from bystanders showed a crash scene with multiple police cruisers on fire. Authorities have not provided details about that part of the incident. Darcy Sack, who witnessed the incident involving the flaming police vehicles, told the CBC, “”We were right behind the police car that was on fire. There was one officer we could see on scene and then all of a sudden, he went running toward one of the burning vehicles. We heard gunshots. had that feeling that something was wrong with the [police officer’s] partner — the way he looked. My heart went out to him.”"

"Authorities did say at least some of the victims were known to Wortman, but added that others appeared to have been picked at random."

Well shit. And here I thought there wouldn't be another major rampage killing until months after the quarantines ended. I guess there really are still some motivated nutcases still out there.

I was surprised this wasn't getting more media attention until I read that this started as a family annihilation. I won't be shocked if we don't hear much more from this case.

EDIT: Death toll up to 18.
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QuestionMark wrote:

Well shit. And here I thought there wouldn't be another major rampage killing until months after the quarantines ended. I guess there really are still some motivated nutcases still out there.

I was surprised this wasn't getting more media attention until I read that this started as a family annihilation. I won't be shocked if we don't hear much more from this case.

EDIT: Death toll up to 18.
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When the news initially broke, my thought was that this was a shooting because of the quarantines. There have been a few threats made to places like stores over this whole quarantine thing. But now, I'm starting to think this was planned for a while and the timing was coincidental.

hvernon wrote:

QuestionMark wrote:

Well shit. And here I thought there wouldn't be another major rampage killing until months after the quarantines ended. I guess there really are still some motivated nutcases still out there.

I was surprised this wasn't getting more media attention until I read that this started as a family annihilation. I won't be shocked if we don't hear much more from this case.

EDIT: Death toll up to 18.
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When the news initially broke, my thought was that this was a shooting because of the quarantines. There have been a few threats made to places like stores over this whole quarantine thing. But now, I'm starting to think this was planned for a while and the timing was coincidental.

Hell of a coincidence though, happening on the 19th and continuing to the 20th.

This guy reminds me of Jakrapanth, the Thailand shooter earlier this year. They both evaded police for hours, did a high casualty shooting over a wide area, and killed cops.

QuestionMark wrote:

I won't be shocked if we don't hear much more from this case.

It's Canada, so, we probably won't. Although his motive and underlying issues and all that seem pretty obvious from what has already been released independent of the police. The mystery here is more "how" than "why," ie. "how did this continue for as long as it did and over the area it did, without being stopped?" Or at least that's my opinion on it anyway.

hvernon wrote:

When the news initially broke, my thought was that this was a shooting because of the quarantines. There have been a few threats made to places like stores over this whole quarantine thing. But now, I'm starting to think this was planned for a while and the timing was coincidental.

It's hard to tell. Yesterday was the 25th anniversary of the OKC bombings, and it seems like he was maybe planning this for a while.

But on the other hand, there were two other rampage attacks around the same time -- the other two were both in Texas -- and both of those also started with domestic violence and involved police officers being attacked. So, that's very interesting, and definitely could be symbolic of the targets of rising tensions during the lockdown.

Info on the other two attacks:
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I also wonder how he was able to go on for that long with nobody stopping him, and I wonder if the lockdowns had something to do with that, like having fewer police on call or something. Nova Scotia doesn't have that many coronavirus cases though, so maybe it really didn't have anything to do with it, and he wasn't stopped for some other reason.

Also more info:
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"The man identified as the Nova Scotia gunman who killed at least 19 people was charged with assault in October 2001, according to a court document obtained by Global News.

Gabriel Wortman, 51, ultimately pleaded guilty in January 2002 and was given a conditional discharge. He was also ordered to stay away from the victim and pay a fine, according to the documents.

The documents did not provide any information about what happened during the assault or what caused the altercation.
[...]
The alleged gunman was also recently involved in an encounter with Halifax Regional Police over an unmarked police vehicle that was parked in the parking lot of his denture clinic.
[...]
“He was very jovial,” she said in an interview. “But there is another side to Gabe. He had some issues, especially with his girlfriend.”

Hudson said she and her husband used to socialize with the alleged gunman and detected “some underlying issues that I think he had with his relationship.

“It was a red flag …. [What happened on the weekend] wasn’t a surprise to some degree, but not to this extreme,” she said, adding that he was obsessed with his girlfriend."

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"Canada killer was an alcoholic millionaire 'whose denture business was shut because of Covid-19'"

downwardspiral wrote:

QuestionMark wrote:

I won't be shocked if we don't hear much more from this case.

It's Canada, so, we probably won't. Although his motive and underlying issues and all that seem pretty obvious from what has already been released independent of the police. The mystery here is more "how" than "why," ie. "how did this continue for as long as it did and over the area it did, without being stopped?" Or at least that's my opinion on it anyway.

Ten bucks says there's going to be some firings over this.

downwardspiral wrote:

hvernon wrote:

When the news initially broke, my thought was that this was a shooting because of the quarantines. There have been a few threats made to places like stores over this whole quarantine thing. But now, I'm starting to think this was planned for a while and the timing was coincidental.

It's hard to tell. Yesterday was the 25th anniversary of the OKC bombings, and it seems like he was maybe planning this for a while.

But on the other hand, there were two other rampage attacks around the same time -- the other two were both in Texas -- and both of those also started with domestic violence and involved police officers being attacked. So, that's very interesting, and definitely could be symbolic of the targets of rising tensions during the lockdown.

Yeah, I get the impression that he was conducting some pre-attack behaviors, but to me it seems like the virus might've been his tipping point, so to speak.

QuestionMark wrote:

Ten bucks says there's going to be some firings over this.

I doubt that, because it's the RCMP. They have a long history of covering up misconduct, or, if it is brought to light through third parties, insufficiently disciplining those involved. I have a feeling that, for this reason, they won't release much on the logistics of what happened and the timeline, claiming it is "out of respect for the victim's families" or something. Of course, since there are so many witnesses, they won't be able to prevent a lot of the information from getting out, in this case. Unless they put a publication ban on it.

Quote :

Yeah, I get the impression that he was conducting some pre-attack behaviors, but to me it seems like the virus might've been his tipping point, so to speak.

Agreed. COVID-19 has affected every aspect of life so much, that it's hard for me to imagine it had nothing to do with it. Even if it was just something as simple as, instead of distracting himself from his problems by working, he was sitting at home stewing in anger about his life/breakup and drinking to excess. So many people have developed problems with substance use under lockdown, and this guy already had an existing alcohol problem, so we can pretty much guarantee he was drinking even more than usual.

downwardspiral wrote:

QuestionMark wrote:

Ten bucks says there's going to be some firings over this.

I doubt that, because it's the RCMP. They have a long history of covering up misconduct, or, if it is brought to light through third parties, insufficiently disciplining those involved. I have a feeling that, for this reason, they won't release much on the logistics of what happened and the timeline, claiming it is "out of respect for the victim's families" or something. Of course, since there are so many witnesses, they won't be able to prevent a lot of the information from getting out, in this case. Unless they put a publication ban on it.

Fair. I'm glad in the US there's more avenues for holding people accountable over this shit.

Found a video from 2014 in which Gabriel Wortman was briefly interviewed in a News segment covering his dental clinic giving a new set of chompers to a lady who lost hers to cancer. (x)

(He speaks at 00:55 and 01:12)

downwardspiral wrote:

hvernon wrote:

When the news initially broke, my thought was that this was a shooting because of the quarantines. There have been a few threats made to places like stores over this whole quarantine thing. But now, I'm starting to think this was planned for a while and the timing was coincidental.

It's hard to tell. Yesterday was the 25th anniversary of the OKC bombings, and it seems like he was maybe planning this for a while.

But on the other hand, there were two other rampage attacks around the same time -- the other two were both in Texas -- and both of those also started with domestic violence and involved police officers being attacked. So, that's very interesting, and definitely could be symbolic of the targets of rising tensions during the lockdown.

Info on the other two attacks:
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I also wonder how he was able to go on for that long with nobody stopping him, and I wonder if the lockdowns had something to do with that, like having fewer police on call or something. Nova Scotia doesn't have that many coronavirus cases though, so maybe it really didn't have anything to do with it, and he wasn't stopped for some other reason.

I probably should have been more clear. I meant that the timing was coincidental in regards to the coronavirus quarantine. If he truly has been planning this for a long time, then I could see why he picked the 19th and 20th. A lot of stuff on around the 19th and 20th. The OKC Bombings being the most prominent... he's a little old in my opinion to be some crazy Columbine fanboy. The more I dwell on it, the more I get the feeling this was something he had been planning for a while, and the whole quarantine thing was the push he needed to go through with it. But again, idk. It's possible he wanted to do it on the anniversary of the OKC Bombing and the whole virus stuff is just a coincidence. Hell, maybe he just got bored.

My next question though is why he want from just killing to family to a full on rampage? Imo, with the supposed police car he had planned a higher body count all along and wanted to kill family first for whatever reason.

QuestionMark wrote:

Fair. I'm glad in the US there's more avenues for holding people accountable over this shit.

Well...sometimes.

hvernon wrote:

I probably should have been more clear. I meant that the timing was coincidental in regards to the coronavirus quarantine. If he truly has been planning this for a long time, then I could see why he picked the 19th and 20th. A lot of stuff on around the 19th and 20th. The OKC Bombings being the most prominent... he's a little old in my opinion to be some crazy Columbine fanboy. The more I dwell on it, the more I get the feeling this was something he had been planning for a while, and the whole quarantine thing was the push he needed to go through with it. But again, idk. It's possible he wanted to do it on the anniversary of the OKC Bombing and the whole virus stuff is just a coincidence. Hell, maybe he just got bored.

It was the 18th and 19th though, not the 19th and 20th. Still, this is definitely the time of year when a lot of rampage killings happen.

I agree, I think he was already planning it before coronavirus, but I think he saw the coronavirus as an opportunity to keep it going for longer and sow more panic, as well as extra motivation for his rage.

It's also possible he planned to do it later on, or hadn't set a date yet, and decided to move it up, since he didn't have the "distractions" of work and general life, and lost stabilizing factors to cause him to have second thoughts about it.

Quote :

My next question though is why he want from just killing to family to a full on rampage? Imo, with the supposed police car he had planned a higher body count all along and wanted to kill family first for whatever reason.

This is a pretty common pattern among spree killers. Some examples include Mark O. Barton, Eric Borel, Kip Kinkel, and many others I can't think of right now. I guess first they take out their rage against their immediate circle and then they take out their rage against society at large. And then, of course, they finish off by taking out their rage against themselves (suicide/suicide-by-cop).

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Seems to me that he was "obsessed" beeing a Mountie. Or he put this outfit on to irritate people,Breivik did it too.

I'm from Nova Scotia, this is so devastating.

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Duluth wrote:

"Officer" Wortman would apparently initiate traffic stops on unsuspecting victims using his replica police vehicle. Once they had stopped, he would get out of his car and shoot them.

Lets Be Cops

Futility wrote:

Seems to me that he was "obsessed" beeing a Mountie. Or he put this outfit on to irritate people,Breivik did it too.

Sounds pretty original I have never heard of anyone doing that before.

Also I would like to know which firearms was used since it´s Canada; but because of the method he used to carry out his act of killings I assume it would´ve been handguns because a Canadian "officer" walking up to you with a rifle or shotgun after a traffic stop would seem unlikely. But still since I am into firearms it would be interesting to know which kinds he used.

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Duluth wrote:

Twenty-two people, not including the perpetrator, are now reported as dead.

This has really been under-reported. I know there's the pandemic, but I would've thought that a shooting as deadly as this would've at least seen a slightly substantial amount of news coverage.

Doesn't fit with the agenda of most media outlets these days of constantly trashing the US and talking about how awful it is in comparison to other countries. If an attack this bad and prolonged can happen in a supposedly "better" country like Canada, maybe the US isn't so awful by comparison.

(See also: characterizing the US's COVID-19 response as "the worst in the world," when Worldometer will tell you that the US is ranked 14th in COVID-19 deaths per million people and most of the major European countries are doing worse.)

Also, if it turns out that lockdown did contribute to him deciding to do it -- or even if it didn't, really, the implication is still there -- it doesn't fit with the agenda of "the consequences of not locking down are worse than the consequences of locking down." Especially considering that more people died in this attack, than have died of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia (now of course, more people would die of COVID-19 if they didn't lock down, but that doesn't matter to the public perception).

Although I doubt the RCMP will release any info on motive or planning, and I think the info we've gotten from public records and people who knew him, is all we will get. My suspicion is that it's become a pattern with the RCMP to pretend the motive is unknown in rampage killings, to the greatest degree possible. In the 2016 La Loche shooting they claimed the same thing, while people who knew the shooter and witnessed the shooting said the motive was bullying. They also claimed the motive and degree of premeditation was unknown in the 2019 northern BC homicides, yet refused to release most of the information on the investigation, making many people think they know a lot more about it than they let on.

Guy sounds like a real asshole. I guess now we know how he got all those properties, and millions of dollars.

‘He stole my house’: Nova Scotia killer had history of dubious financial practices

downwardspiral wrote:

My suspicion is that it's become a pattern with the RCMP to pretend the motive is unknown in rampage killings, to the greatest degree possible. In the 2016 La Loche shooting they claimed the same thing, while people who knew the shooter and witnessed the shooting said the motive was bullying. They also claimed the motive and degree of premeditation was unknown in the 2019 northern BC homicides, yet refused to release most of the information on the investigation, making many people think they know a lot more about it than they let on.

In all fairness cops are some of the dumbest people on the planet. Consider how many times cops in general have fucked up in apprehending many different kinds of criminals and have bought into lies that couldn't fool a toddler, and the idea that they literally cannot understand a perpetrator's motives and degree of pre-meditation even when directly told becomes incredibly plausible (as a matter of fact this has actually, literally happened so many times it's comedic).

I'm not familiar enough with Canada, their media, or their police. Do you think the RCMP will release how the shooter died? Obviously, gun shot I'm sure. But I would like to know if he shot himself or if cops shot him. I know I've read he died in a confrontation with the police, but none of the articles ever state if they exchanged fire. I would assume that means police shot him, but he could have turned the gun on himself when they showed up.

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hvernon wrote:

I'm not familiar enough with Canada, their media, or their police. Do you think the RCMP will release how the shooter died? Obviously, gun shot I'm sure. But I would like to know if he shot himself or if cops shot him. I know I've read he died in a confrontation with the police, but none of the articles ever state if they exchanged fire. I would assume that means police shot him, but he could have turned the gun on himself when they showed up.

It's entirely possible they won't.

For reference about the RCMP's general level of secrecy, in the northern BC homicides case last summer:

*The RCMP didn't even release the information that the first two victims (Chynna Deese and Lucas Fowler) had been murdered, until three days after they were killed. (There are questions on whether earlier warning would have prevented additional murders.) They also didn't release that they were killed with guns -- it was leaked to the press.

*The RCMP did not release the cause of death for the third victim (Leonard Dyck) at all, until 2.5 months later. Even then, they provided very incomplete details on the murder (and whatever happened, it was really weird, so, there's a LOT of questions) and some of the details contradicted others. They also, for some reason, literally got Google Maps to remove the Street View for the entire 30-mile stretch of highway between towns where the murder took place. They recently put some of it back, but the section they put back was south of where all the crime scenes were.

*While the killers (Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky) were on the run, the RCMP told the public in a press conference that they "didn't even know what they were armed with," despite knowing what type of weapons were used in the murders.

*There were three gunshots heard by locals while the RCMP were investigating an alleged sighting of them. The RCMP initially denied it happened, then admitted it happened the next day but said that "an officer got lost and shot in the air to signal his location" (which makes no sense for a variety of reasons). But anyway, they lied about it at first.

*They did release the cause of death as "suicide by gunfire" after Kam and Bryer's bodies were found, yet didn't reveal until several weeks later that Kam killed Bryer and then himself. They also didn't reveal the location of the gunshot wounds, although Bryer's dad later told the press that he was shot in the back of the head. And they never revealed the approximate date of death either.

*They claim to not know when they recorded the videos they made on the run, even though they were recorded on a camera that must have exif data. The existence of the videos was also only revealed because it was leaked to the press.

*Even their families haven't gotten much more information than the general public, according to interviews.

There's lots of other examples of missing information, but, you get the idea. And half the information we do have is because the media went to court and got the judge to unseal some documents, which the RCMP never intended for the public to see. So basically, that's the level of secrecy we're dealing with here.

Nova Scotia Gunman Was Not a Legal Firearms Owner, RCMP Says

The man who committed the worst ever mass killing in modern Canadian history did not have a firearms licence.

Nova Scotia RCMP Chief Superintendent Chris Leather said during a press conference Wednesday afternoon just how the killer obtained firearms is “a key part of the investigation.”

Leather didn’t clarify what firearms were used by the killer or how many people were killed by gunshots and later added that how the killer obtained an “authentic police uniform” is also a “key part of the investigation.”

[...]

They set up a perimeter and searched the property, but only realized the killer wasn’t there early Sunday morning.

[...]

Amid the worst-ever mass killing in modern Canadian history, Americans living in Nova Scotia received a warning to their personal emails while Canadians had to rely on Twitter or the media.

The U.S. consulate in Halifax confirmed to VICE they sent an email out to U.S. citizens on Sunday. Marcia Seitz-Ehler, a spokesperson for the consulate, said that they got their information from the RCMP Twitter account.

“It is our protocol—when emergencies occur—to alert U.S. citizens in the area to the situation,” Seitz-Ehler told VICE.

While the RCMP had access to a far more powerful tool than an email blast—an emergency alert which could have notified all Nova Scotians via their phone. Leather said Wednesday that the province reached out to send out a release and the RCMP were in the midst of planning to release an emergency alert when the suspect was killed. The province initially reached out at 10:15, over an hour before Wortman was killed, and Leather said the delay was bureaucratic in nature.

“A lot of the delay was due to communication between the (Emergency Management Office) and the various officers,” said Leather. “And then there was a discussion about how the message would be constructed and what it would say. So in that hour and a bit is when the subject was killed at 11:26.”

Some loved ones of the victims have said the RMCP could have saved lives if they asked the province to send an emergency alert out.

[...]

Trudeau also said his government was looking to bring forward a ban on "assault-style weapons."

SIRT investigating RCMP activity at Onslow Belmont firehall during Sunday's shooting rampage

“Our video surveillance does not capture the shooters but does show two people who appear to be RCMP officers enter our property, one to the front and one to the rear,” the posting continues. "One of these people enters our hall at the front but no one who is sheltered inside the hall spoke with the people/person resembling the RCMP officer so we (cannot) confirm why they were there. No one identified themselves as an RCMP officer. They left our property shortly after the gunfire. We have since been contacted by SIRT (the Serious Incident Response Team) and are co-operating with their ongoing investigation. Fortunately no one was physically injured.”

[....]

Joy McCabe, who lives directly beside the firehall, was looking out her kitchen window while cooking breakfast when an RCMP vehicle suddenly stopped in the middle of road. She said two officers got out and both immediately began firing multiple rounds.

“And while I’m looking, that car pulled up right there in the middle of the road, opened both doors and started shooting. And then I remembered seeing just a little blurb on my Facebook about shooting and I said ‘I think the guy’s here that was doing some shooting.’ And down I got and went into the bedroom. I didn’t know where to go at that time.”

McCabe said after the officers finished shooting, they moved up a little closer and crouched down behind a wooden garbage bin near the edge of the road.

After the shooting stopped, McCabe said she went back to the window, at which point she noticed someone crouched down between two vehicles in the firehall parking lot.

“After I got a little more comfortable and my husband said there wasn’t anything going on, I look and there was a guy down between two cars,” she said. “All I could see was the top of the head, I could see that it was a shaven head (like a brush cut), you know. And I don’t know why, I just thought, 'Why is he ducking and hiding if isn’t, you know, it’s got to be the shooter.'”

She later learned the shooter had already passed through the area.

Nova Scotia gunman charged with assaulting a 15-year-old boy in 2001

Matthew said he was just 15 years old when an allegedly drunk Gabriel Wortman assaulted him outside a denture clinic in Dartmouth, N.S., almost 20 years ago.

It was the fall of 2001 when Matthew said he was waiting to catch a ride home at a bus stop in front of 193 Portland St., the same address as Wortman’s Atlantic Denture Clinic.

That’s when the denturist came outside screaming that the teenager was too close to his business.

“He came out, I guess, in a half-drunken rage and ended up punching me as many times in the head as he could,” said Matthew, who is now 34 and works in sales in Dartmouth. Global News has chosen not to reveal Matthew’s full name as he was a minor at the time of the assault.

“Then he had a friend who came over from around the corner and hit me with a crowbar,” Matthew said. “Then the two men stomped on my head and all over my body.”

downwardspiral wrote:

Nova Scotia Gunman Was Not a Legal Firearms Owner, RCMP Says

The man who committed the worst ever mass killing in modern Canadian history did not have a firearms licence.

[...]

Trudeau also said his government was looking to bring forward a ban on "assault-style weapons."

What a big brained take. Disarm everybody even though the guns were acquired illegally.

downwardspiral wrote:

Nova Scotia gunman charged with assaulting a 15-year-old boy in 2001

Matthew said he was just 15 years old when an allegedly drunk Gabriel Wortman assaulted him outside a denture clinic in Dartmouth, N.S., almost 20 years ago.

It was the fall of 2001 when Matthew said he was waiting to catch a ride home at a bus stop in front of 193 Portland St., the same address as Wortman’s Atlantic Denture Clinic.

That’s when the denturist came outside screaming that the teenager was too close to his business.

“He came out, I guess, in a half-drunken rage and ended up punching me as many times in the head as he could,” said Matthew, who is now 34 and works in sales in Dartmouth. Global News has chosen not to reveal Matthew’s full name as he was a minor at the time of the assault.

“Then he had a friend who came over from around the corner and hit me with a crowbar,” Matthew said. “Then the two men stomped on my head and all over my body.”

"Wortman, who was 33 at the time of the arrest, ultimately pleaded guilty in January 2002 and was given a conditional discharge and nine months’ probation. He was also ordered to stay away from the victim, according to the documents.
“I think there should have been a little bit more justice there,” Matthew said."

I side with the kid. Other people who have committed comparably crimes received multi-year prison terms (though they couldn't afford good lawyers, I'm sure this guy had some cash to burn).

QuestionMark wrote:

What a big brained take. Disarm everybody even though the guns were acquired illegally.

Exactly...that's why I put that statement in bold...to highlight the stupidity

The other reason it's stupid is, with the amount of time it took for the police to actually bother to respond, he could have used literally any weapon and still killed the same amount of people.

And the third reason it's stupid is...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Assault_Weapons_Ban#Effects

Quote :

I side with the kid. Other people who have committed comparably crimes received multi-year prison terms (though they couldn't afford good lawyers, I'm sure this guy had some cash to burn).

I wonder if he even had to go to anger management classes. Like seriously, who does that?

This guy had a long pattern of violent and criminal behavior and was literally able to get away with it for decades because he was rich. Even though it sounds like he got rich mostly by scamming people.

N/A

downwardspiral wrote:

QuestionMark wrote:

What a big brained take. Disarm everybody even though the guns were acquired illegally.

Exactly...that's why I put that statement in bold...to highlight the stupidity

The other reason it's stupid is, with the amount of time it took for the police to actually bother to respond, he could have used literally any weapon and still killed the same amount of people.

And the third reason it's stupid is...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Assault_Weapons_Ban#Effects

Indeed. As to your second point, it's definitely very possible, take a look at these two shootings in the UK:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Duluth wrote:

Does anyone know which particular firearms Wortman used?

The police know, but they aren't talking. This is another reason why the push for more gun control sounds absurd; we don't even know if their proposed restrictions would've prevented him from owning the guns he had.

N/A

So not only does this guy scam people out of their houses, beat up teenage boys, and murder 22 people, but he also goes to parties during a pandemic. What a model citizen

Also, some change in information here. Originally the news said his girlfriend was his ex, and she was murdered along with her new boyfriend. Now apparently it turns out they were still together, she didn't have a new boyfriend, and she was injured but not killed. From a criminological perspective, it's very interesting that he didn't kill her, and it sounds like she may not have even been shot.

Nova Scotia shootings began after gunman attacked his girlfriend, sources say

"The killings that began Saturday night in the rural Nova Scotia community of Portapique and ended the next morning with the death of the gunman at a gas station started with domestic violence when Gabriel Wortman attacked his girlfriend, sources tell Global News.

Investigators believe Wortman and his girlfriend were at a party at a nearby home in the Portapique area when Wortman began arguing with her. They left the party and sources believe Wortman escalated the argument back at his cottage — assaulting her and tying her up. She escaped and hid in the woods.

Wortman left his cottage after the assault and investigators believe that’s when the shootings started. He returned to the house where the party was being held and killed several people there, sources said."

"Police found Wortman’s girlfriend around 7 a.m. local, sources said. It was from her they learned he was likely dressed as a police officer and driving a fake cruiser. She also provided the picture of the vehicle that was widely distributed. The information changed the way police were searching for Wortman.

Police first tweeted about Wortman at 9:04 a.m. local time Sunday. Less than an hour later they tweeted again warning he may be driving what “appears to be an RCMP vehicle & may be wearing an RCMP uniform.”"

"A member of the RCMP’s Emergency Response Team and an RCMP K9 officer spotted Wortman at a gas station in Enfield, N.S., when they stopped there. Wortman realized the police had spotted him and went for his gun but the highly trained ERT officer shot and killed him before he could fire on police, sources said."

[Wasn't there a shootout that people witnessed, though?]

RCMP defend not sending emergency alert before Nova Scotia gunman was killed

"The decision to finally issue an alert came many hours after the province activated its Emergency Management Office (EMO), which had contacted police multiple times about sending an alert but never received a request from the RCMP to do so."

"Families of some victims have wondered aloud whether some of the 22 people killed over the weekend may have been spared if more people had known a gunman was on the loose.

The Chief Superintendent, however, said he was “very satisfied” with the messaging that went out to officers and to the public on Twitter,"

"Nathan Staples, a man from Glenholme, N.S., who lives about 15 minutes from where the killing began Saturday night, said investigators told him Tuesday that they found his name on a list obtained when the RCMP searched the Portapique property of the shooter, a 51-year-old denturist.

Mr. Staples believes this is why a heavily armed tactical officer appeared at his home after midnight Saturday, while the killer was still on the loose, having evaded police while driving a look-alike RCMP cruiser and wearing an officer’s uniform. His neighbours did not have a similar visit, he said.

“The investigator said I was seventh or eighth on the list. I didn’t know what to think,” Mr. Staples said. “He came to apologize. He said ‘we’re sorry we couldn’t have been there quicker.’ That’s when I got angry.”

He and the shooter once shared an interest in old police cars, but Mr Staples says he can’t guess why gunman Gabriel Wortman would have had him on a list – other than a few months earlier, he had declined to sell a used police car to him. The RCMP said they couldn’t discuss any specifics of their investigation.

There are growing questions around others areas of the Mounties’ manhunt – including how the killer managed to evade police for as long as he did, escaping a perimeter around the initial shootings.

“How was this allowed to happen?” Mr. Staples said. “How could they not stop it? How could this go on for more than 12 hours, when this guy was still out there, shooting people? This was a royal screw-up.”"

"At times during the chaotic hours after the shootings began, it wasn’t always clear who police were chasing. At one point during the manhunt, two Mounties shot bullets into a fire hall in Lower Onslow, N.S. The hall was being used as a Red Cross registration centre for evacuees from the Portapique area.

While no one was injured, that incident is now under investigation by the civilian oversight agency for police in Nova Scotia.

“We don’t know what they were shooting at,” said Pat Curran, interim director of the Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT), an independent body that investigates police actions. “We just know that the suspect was not in the area at that time.”

Four people, including one evacuee from Portapique Beach Road and Onslow Belmont Fire Brigade Chief Greg Muise, were inside the fire hall when gunfire exploded into the building Sunday at 10:30 a.m.

The RCMP has declined to answer questions about what happened. For the past two days, calls from the public have lit up Mr. Muise’s phone.

“I shouldn’t be the one getting calls,” Mr. Muise said. “[RCMP] should be the ones putting it out and letting people know what happened and they seem to be lagging on it.”"

"Police, meanwhile, are trying to piece together the connection between the victims, some of whom knew the killer, and some who appeared to have no connection at all. Among the victims are Lisa McCully, a school teacher, who rented a cottage from him on an adjacent property in Portapique. She was one of 13 neighbours killed in the area immediately surrounding the gunman’s home, as he lit houses on fire and shot people outside.

In some cases, the gunman drove significant distances to find his victims. Shawn McLeod, a former hunting buddy, was killed along with his wife, Alanna Jenkins, at their house in Wentworth, more than 50 kilometres from the killer’s home in Portapique. Their neighbour, Tom Bagley, was killed when he ran over to help Sunday morning.

Gina Goulet, a fellow denturist, was killed at her bungalow in the countryside outside Shubenacadie, more than 75 kms away from Portapique. It was also in Shubenacadie that the killer was in a shootout with the RCMP – a violent exchange that left Constable Heidi Stevenson dead and another Mountie injured. He wasn’t stopped until he reached Enfield, about half an hour north of Halifax, where two officers shot him dead.

Other shootings appeared to be completely random, including Lillian Hyslop, shot while walking her dog, a father named Joey Webber, out Sunday morning to get some furnace oil, and three people pulled over at the side of the road."

N/A

At this point, my question is, is there any crime this guy DIDN'T commit? Like, damn.

These new revelations also make the theory that he was a police informant more likely (as discussed in this article: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Which, if true, opens up a lot of questions, to say the least.

The government also finally agreed to hold an actual public inquiry after huge backlash when they refused to do so. I guess there's just too many affected families and too much to cover up at this point. Will be interested to see what will and will not come out. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

****
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Mass murderer Gabriel Wortman was a drug dealer and involved in running guns and drugs from Maine “for years,” including some 10,000 Oxycontin tablets and 15,000 tabs of Dilaudid during one haul, according to information ordered released by a Nova Scotia judge on Monday.

According to previously redacted portions of search warrant documents related to the RCMP’s investigation into the Nova Scotia mass shooting released today, Wortman may have used a reservation on the Maine-News Brunswick border to smuggle drugs into Canada.

The newly-released information suggests Wortman was a known drug dealer in the Portapique area, where he went on a murderous, 13-hour rampage April 18 and 19 that ended with 22 people dead.

The new details seem to lend credence to revelations published in Maclean’s in June that Wortman associated with bikers from the Hells Angels and at least one individual in the Portapique area with known ties to a Mexican drug cartel.

The article uncovered that Wortman had withdrawn some $475,000 from a Brink’s office weeks before his killing spree. The article speculated Wortman may have been an RCMP informant. The RCMP has denied any such connection to Wortman.

It seems more clear, given the newest revelations, that Wortman had ties to the criminal element.

The newly-released information also quotes several sources saying that Wortman had “secret hiding spots,” “secret compartments” and “false walls” in rooms at various properties he owned, including at his denture clinic in Dartmouth, where he stored guns and a high-powered rifle.

The Canada Border Services Agency has been investigating the source of illegal guns used by Wortman during his rampage.

Wortman, whose history of gender violence has also been the focus of women’s groups and the RCMP’s investigation, is also described as a “sexual predator” in the documents.

On Thursday, July 23, the federal government and government of Nova Scotia announced the formation of a three-person panel to review the circumstances surrounding the shooting, falling short of growing calls for a full public inquiry.

downwardspiral wrote:

These new revelations also make the theory that he was a police informant more likely (as discussed in this article: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Which, if true, opens up a lot of questions, to say the least.

Funny enough, I don't think this is the first time a police informant went berserk. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] would know better than I but IIRC there was a Muslim terrorist attack where one of the assailants was an informant.

downwardspiral wrote:

Mass murderer Gabriel Wortman was a drug dealer and involved in running guns and drugs from Maine “for years,” including some 10,000 Oxycontin tablets and 15,000 tabs of Dilaudid during one haul, according to information ordered released by a Nova Scotia judge on Monday.

It's almost like gun control won't work when criminals don't follow the laws...

QuestionMark wrote:

Funny enough, I don't think this is the first time a police informant went berserk. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] would know better than I but IIRC there was a Muslim terrorist attack where one of the assailants was an informant.

Breaking news: violent criminals commit violent crimes when given a free pass to do so.

Quote :

It's almost like gun control won't work when criminals don't follow the laws...

I guess they should have made drug dealing and sex crimes illegal too, in order to prevent him from...oh wait.

I also wonder just who he was informing on. Like who is out there in the tiny province of Nova Scotia who is doing even WORSE stuff in aggregate, than what this guy was doing?

I know this thread is two years old but here's an excellent article that present some new information on the case, particularly Wortman's family history: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]