Gunman started Canada's worst mass shooting after his girlfriend fled

[rooster59]

Gunman started Canada's worst mass shooting after his girlfriend fled

By Moira Warburton and Steve Scherer

 

FILE PHOTO: The makeshift memorial that has been placed in the memory of Kristen Beaton, who was expecting her third child and was killed along Plains Road during Sunday’s mass shooting is seen in Debert, Nova Scotia, Canada April 23, 2020. REUTERS/Tim Krochak

 

TORONTO/OTTAWA (Reuters) - The gunman in Canada's worst ever mass shooting began the weekend rampage that ultimately killed 22 people after his girlfriend escaped him when he assaulted her, a top police official said on Friday.

 

Police did not give details about the nature of the assault or how she escaped and fled into the woods. Local media said she had been tied up. The woman's name was not provided. She is currently recovering from her injuries and cooperating with police.

 

"It was a significant assault, and this individual female did manage to escape, and that could very well have been the catalyst to start the chain of events," Nova Scotia Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Superintendent Darren Campbell said in a news conference.

 

"However, we're open to all possibilities and we're not excluding the possibility that there was any premeditated planning also involved," Campbell said in a news conference.

 

After the woman fled on Saturday night, she spent the night in hiding in the thick woods that surround the rural hamlet of Portapique, Nova Scotia, and only emerged on Sunday morning to call the 911 emergency number at about 6:30 a.m.

 

By then the gunman, 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman, had killed 13 people in Portapique. Disguised in a police uniform and driving a fake police car, Wortman went on to kill nine more people on Sunday morning.

 

The Friday news conference provided the first detailed account of a shooting spree that lasted at least 13 hours. RCMP officers shot Wortman dead at a gas station about 90 km (60 miles) from Portapique, but not before Wortman wounded one RCMP officer and killed another.

 

On Sunday, he also randomly killed one woman who was out for a Sunday morning walk, and he used the fake police cruiser to pull over and shoot and kill at least one person. He also stopped at the home of a woman he knew, murdered her, and took her car.

 

"I've been a police officer for almost 30 years now and I can't imagine any more horrific a set of circumstances, when you're trying to search for someone that looks like you," Campbell said, referring to Wortman's impersonation of an RCMP officer.

 

Police faced criticism this week for using social media and not a provincial emergency alert system to notify the public that a gunman was at large, and for only sending out a tweet on Saturday night that warned of a "firearms complaint".

 

Some of the families of the victims said better communication might have saved the lives of their loved ones.

 

Police believed the suspect had been "contained" within police perimeters on Saturday night, Campbell said. But he said the families "have every right to be angry. ... We are always looking to do better."

 

On Friday evening after the earlier news conference, an alert was sent to all the cellphones in the province saying that police were responding to reports of shots fired in two different parts of a suburb of Halifax and advising people to stay inside their homes. It turned out to be a false alarm.

 

"All clear. ... No evidence of shots fired. Police continue to patrol the area," the RCMP tweeted.

 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, speaking at a daily news conference, urged Canadians to join a virtual vigil at 6 p.m. ET (2200 GMT).

 

"Let's come together to support these communities that suffered immeasurable loss," Trudeau said.

 

(Reporting by Steve Scherer in Ottawa and Moira Warburton in Toronto; Editing by David Gregorio and Jonathan Oatis)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-04-25

 

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[pegman]

RCMP might not have wanted anyone taking pot shots at them thinking they were the shooter.  Americans who were registered with their consulate in Halifax were notified by them.  Early reports were that the girlfriend and her new boyfriend had been murdered first. Also that there had been a hit list found at his Halifax home. 

[Tchooptip]

This madman didn't prepare his fake police car in 24 hours, plus he also had a uniform, so it was premeditated in one way or another!

[metisdead]

Some nonsensical posts and replies have been removed. 

[trainman34014]

Another mindless Thug less in The World but such a shame so many innocent lives lost before his.   RIP those lost.

[bbi1]

Thought that these type of mass shootings we always hear about usually only happen in the US. Seems that the mindset has jumped over the US/Canada border.

[Sujo]

9 minutes ago, bbi1 said:

Thought that these type of mass shootings we always hear about usually only happen in the US. Seems that the mindset has jumped over the US/Canada border.

Yes it does usually only happen in the US.

Edited April 25, 2020 by Sujo

[Baerboxer]

On 4/25/2020 at 12:53 PM, trainman34014 said:

Another mindless Thug less in The World but such a shame so many innocent lives lost before his.   RIP those lost.

 

Indeed. Devastating for families, relatives and friends of those murdered. Appalling for the victims.

 

And once again, shows that humans are all individual and some can carry out violent attacks on others with the intention of killing them whilst the state is not able to protect them. Many governments have consciously strove to deny their citizens the means to protect themselves whilst failing miserably to do it with their state mechanisms.

[Yankeesvsredsox]

 Goin about livin life and when you least expect it ,some sickie kills ya!

[pegman]

On 4/24/2020 at 10:16 PM, Tchooptip said:

This madman didn't prepare his fake police car in 24 hours, plus he also had a uniform, so it was premeditated in one way or another!

Seems he owned 4 replica RCMP  vehicles that were under various stages of construction.  Apparently this guy was a wanabee cop. 

[AussieBob18]

On 4/25/2020 at 4:09 PM, Sujo said:

Yes it does usually only happen in the US.

You guys are so predictable - get eduated about it all.  Dont you remember the murders on that island in Europe - there is even a movie. There is more happening in the world than what you see/hear on social media and gets talked about a lot. The anti-gun lobby in USA saturate the media when it happens there - for their own purposed - but it happens in a lot of places. Remember Port Arthur in Australia? Look them up - beware of media PR by political activists.