18 confirmed killed in Canada’s deadliest mass shooting, but officials expect to discover more victims”, NBC News
By The Associated Press, April 12. 2020
A police official said Monday that police expect to find more victims once they are able to comb through all the crime scenes.
TORONTO — Police fanned out across more than a dozen crime scenes Monday after a rampage by a gunman disguised as a police officer left at least 18 dead and homes in smoldering ruins in rural communities across Nova Scotia — the deadliest mass shooting in Canada’s history.
Officials said the suspect, identified as 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman, also died in the weekend attack. Authorities did not provide a motive for the killings.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Chief Superintendent Chris Leather told a news conference Monday that police expect to find more victims once they are able to comb through all the crime scenes, some of which were houses set ablaze as victims were inside, adhering to government calls to stay at home because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Leather said police teams were spread out at 16 locations across central and northern Nova Scotia. He said some of the victims knew Wortman, and some didn’t.
“We’re relatively confident we’ve identified all the crime scenes,” Leather said. “We have had five structure fires, most of those being residences, and we believe there may be victims still within the remains of those homes which burnt to the ground.”
The dead included a police officer. Another was wounded by gunfire and was recovering at home, Leather said.
“The 18 innocent lives lost will be remembered throughout Canada’s history,” Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said.
Eyewitness describes end of Nova Scotia mass shooting manhunt
APRIL 20, 202000:43
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau noted how close-knit the small province of Nova Scotia is.
“The vast majority of Nova Scotians will have a direct link with one or more of the victims. The entire province and country is grieving right now as we come to grips with something that is unimaginable,” Trudeau told a news conference.
“The pandemic will prevent us from mourning together in person, but a vigil will be held virtually to celebrate the lives of the victims,” Trudeau added, saying it would take place Friday night through a Facebook group.
Trudeau asked the media to avoid mentioning the name of the assailant or showing his picture.
“Do not give this person the gift of infamy,” he said.
Justin Trudeau
✔@JustinTrudeau
There are no words for the pain felt by the families and loved ones of the victims. But I want them to know that all Canadians are with them. That this senseless, evil act will not define Nova Scotia. Today, all Canadians are Nova Scotian.
1,262 people are talking about this
The 12-hour rampage began late Saturday in the rural town of Portapique, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of Halifax, where police warned residents to lock their doors and stay in their basements as the attack unfolded. The town, like all of Canada, had been adhering to government advice to remain at home because of the pandemic and most of the victims were inside when the attack began.
Several bodies were later found inside and outside one house on Portapique Beach Road, the street where the suspect lived, authorities said.
Bodies were also found at other locations within about a 30-mile (50-kilometer) area from the neighborhood where the shootings began, and authorities believe the shooter may have targeted his first victims but then began attacking randomly.
Authorities said the gunman wore a police uniform and made his car look like a Royal Canadian Mounted Police cruiser.
“His ability to move around the province undetected was surely greatly benefited by the fact that he had a vehicle that looked identical in every way to a marked police car,” Leather said, adding that the gunman was also either wearing a police uniform or very good copy.
He said at one point the suspect was forced to abandon his car and then carjacked other vehicles to continue to “circulate around the province steps ahead of our investigators.”
Authorities believe he acted alone. RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki said he was not well known to police and no note from the suspect has been found. She said police were still studying the crime scenes to determine what weapons were used.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers stand in line as a hearse carrying the body of Constable Heidi Stevenson passes in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, on Monday. Stevenson was killed in a shooting rampage on Sunday.John Morris / Reuters