Worst Mass Shooting in Canadian History

[MKSheppard]

So, AT LEAST 17 dead -- more may be found as crime scenes are processed and bodies uncovered.

--------

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/no ... oting-rcmp

One of the worst mass killings in Canadian history unfolded over 12 hours starting late Saturday night, as Gabriel Wortman, 51, a denturist in the Halifax area, murdered 17 people in a rampage through northern Nova Scotia, setting fires and shooting at police while dressed, terrifyingly, as an RCMP officer and driving a mocked up cruiser.

The spree killing that began Saturday night in the seaside village of Portapique, N.S., ended 100 km away on Sunday morning at a gas station outside Halifax, where Wortman was located by a huge force of police officers and dogs, and died in a confrontation.

Police are still bracing to discover more bodies, as the various crime scenes have not yet been cleared, and further investigative leads remain to be chased down. Nova Scotia RCMP Chief Supt. Chris Leather initially said the death toll is almost certain to be more than 10, and that some of the victims appeared to have no prior connection to the shooter.

....

The rampage “appears to be at least in part, very random in nature,” Leather said. He would not speculate on motive and declined to say whether there was any commonality among victims that would indicate a hate motive.

The toll exceeds the 14 dead at École Polytechnique in Montreal in 1989, making this the deadliest spree killing in Canadian history.

One of the dead, the first to be formally identified is RCMP Constable Heidi Stevenson, a 23-year veteran and married mother of two, who was killed Sunday morning responding to the active shooter incident.

...

The police response to the atrocity began with a burst of emergency calls around 11:30 p.m. Saturday, about firearms at a house in Portapique, along the north shore of Cobequid Bay, a rural area of farms and recreational properties.

Officers arrived to a “chaotic” scene, Leather said, with casualties inside and outside a house. That prompted a massive emergency response including helicopters, emergency task force officers, and other forces.

The search led to multiple buildings that were being consumed by fire, a series of murder scenes that have yet to be cleared.

[/quote]

[The Romulan Republic]

I'd heard there was a shooting, and that an officer was killed, but I hadn't realized it was this bad.

Now we wait to see what the motive was.

[MKSheppard]

https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/ ... calculated

The first two dead are believed to be 51-year-old Wortman’s “ex (wife or girlfriend) and her new boyfriend,” say police sources.

...

“The guy went on a rampage (Saturday night) — burning houses and shooting people,” alleged a police source. “He got in to his police car he had made at home and drove around pulling people over and executing them.”

Several houses, including Wortman’s home, were burned and the murder spree included the execution of “a mom and dad in front of their children,” said police source.

...

An officer said Stevenson [the dead constable] rammed her killer’s vehicle on a highway and “he shot her in the chest with a bunch of rounds.”

He then “pulled her out of the car and executed her point blank” and “took her gun and mags, burned his own car and took her car.”

[The Romulan Republic]

Jesus.

So, entitled white male fuck who murdered a bunch of people because his ex-girlfriend decided she wanted to be with someone else? I don't know if that counts as an ideological motive, but it does seem like misogyny and male entitlement is an underlying theme in a lot of mass shootings (Canada's previous worst mass shooting, the Montreal Ecole Polytechnique Massacre, was of course specifically targeting women for daring to get an education in a traditionally male field).

[Broomstick]

When I heard about this I was WTF? Canada? Novia Scotia of all places?

But yeah - entitled male goes berserk because a woman dared to reject him and choose another. Unfortunately that can lead to murder, even mass murder. It does not excuse any of it, but it does explain the motivation. Even if said motivation is repugnant.

[MKSheppard]

From another board:

Here’s a message from a friend who patrols in NS. It’s direct, but you’ll get the gist.

“Got dressed as RCMP with #### he found online, took his personnal marked PC that he made himself Went to his ex's place.

Forced her and new boyfriend out the house and tied them to a tree, executed them.

Kids ran to the neighbor, neighbor got out to see, executed him.

Unclear what house he set on fire but probably both houses.

Then hit the road, pulled people over with his marked PC and executed the drivers

Went across our member on the highway, shot her once, dragged her out of her car, executed her, burned his own car and stole her gear and her car and kept on the "joyride" then ditched our member's car and ran off in another vehicle”.

EDITED some details.

Further info:

“The guy went on a rampage last night through cottage country there burning houses and executing people. Executed a mom and dad in front of their children.

Burned his own house. Got in to his PC he had made at home. Drove around pulling people over and executing them.

Heidi Stevenson rams him on highway. He shoots her in the chest. Pulls her out and executes her point blank. Takes her Smith, mags and her car. Burns his car.

ERT shows up and drags her back. Leave her with gd. That’s the video that was out there.

Shoots Chad Morrison at some point. Current status is he’s alive to the best of ERT’s knowledge.

Burns heidi’s car and gets in to another vehicle. Civilian reports it. Rat actually pulls up while guys are getting gas at one station and leaves. They don’t put it together until later. The description and photos they had didn’t match him at that point.

Rat goes to another gas station and is filling up. PD and ERT members show up. PD ID’s him. They challenge him. He has S&W out. Eats 10ish rounds.

10 plus people dead maybe more. Apparently the members were going from house to house just finding bodies. “

[Solauren]

Holy Crap.

Depending on the guys skill with painting and such, this wasn't a spure of the moment. More like "I'm going out in a blaze of glory, and this is my excuse".

[Beowulf]

https://www.theonion.com/no-way-to-prev ... 1819576527

[The Romulan Republic]

https://www.theonion.com/no-way-to-prev ... 1819576527

What's this supposed to be, some sarcastic "Hah-Hah, its not just American, Canada has mass shootings too"? Or "Canada has gun control and there was a shooting there, that means gun control doesn't do anything!"

I'm trying to see your point here, because I'm really struggling to see the humour in this situation.

[Zaune]

What's this supposed to be, some sarcastic "Hah-Hah, its not just American, Canada has mass shootings too"? Or "Canada has gun control and there was a shooting there, that means gun control doesn't do anything!"

I'm trying to see your point here, because I'm really struggling to see the humour in this situation.

Better to laugh than to cry, I guess?

Still, I suppose you could argue that this godawful incident is proof that while not letting anyone buy a firearm without holding them to a very high standard of proof that they're of sound mind and good character is a good start, it can't completely solve the problem.

I wish I knew what the hell would solve the problem of something like this, though. A guy with no prior criminal record gunning down his ex and her new partner in a fit of rage is bad enough, but why the fuck did he decide to follow that up by driving around gunning people down totally at random? The only thing I can think of that would even help prevent these incidents is to require periodic repeats of the screening process for getting a permit; I don't know much about the process in Nova Scotia but here in the UK you have to provide at least one character reference and go through a face to face interview with a local police officer, which works fairly well overall but can't do much about someone whose mental health starts to deteriorate later.

And of course it's pretty easy to talk about having high standards for who is and isn't a fit person to hold a firearms certificate in Britain, where there's almost no wildlife that could threaten a person (rumours about the descendants of escaped pet pumas notwithstanding) and nothing very much worth hunting. Nobody our police decide isn't to be trusted with a loaded weapon is going to get mugged for their packed lunch by a bear while they're out hiking as a result.

[bilateralrope]

https://www.theonion.com/no-way-to-prev ... 1819576527

Note that the full title is

‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens

Note the word regularly. Are you claiming that mass shootings regularly happen in Canada ?

[Batman]

Have you and TRR actually read the article?

[Solauren]

I wish I knew what the hell would solve the problem of something like this, though. A guy with no prior criminal record gunning down his ex and her new partner in a fit of rage is bad enough, but why the fuck did he decide to follow that up by driving around gunning people down totally at random? The only thing I can think of that would even help prevent these incidents is to require periodic repeats of the screening process for getting a permit; I don't know much about the process in Nova Scotia but here in the UK you have to provide at least one character reference and go through a face to face interview with a local police officer, which works fairly well overall but can't do much about someone whose mental health starts to deteriorate later.

And of course it's pretty easy to talk about having high standards for who is and isn't a fit person to hold a firearms certificate in Britain, where there's almost no wildlife that could threaten a person (rumours about the descendants of escaped pet pumas notwithstanding) and nothing very much worth hunting. Nobody our police decide isn't to be trusted with a loaded weapon is going to get mugged for their packed lunch by a bear while they're out hiking as a result.

Odds are, the guy had mental health problems. I'm guessing the Ex left him, but there was nothing she reportable/actoinable by the police.

I agree, however, under current gun control laws in Canada, this was probably NOT preventable. Unless someone noticed what the guy was preparing to do and reported him. And even then, owning a car that looks like it's for law enforcement is not a crime, nor is owning a replica costume.

[The Romulan Republic]

Trudeau calls for stricter gun control:

https://cnn.com/2020/04/21/americas/nov ... index.html

(CNN)In the wake of a deadly shooting rampage in Nova Scotia, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his administration is moving ahead with stricter gun laws.

"In regards to gun control, we took very serious commitments in the election campaign and have moved forward -- and are moving forward on them -- to ensure that we're strengthening gun control in this country," Trudeau told reporters Monday, according to CNN media partner CTV News.

A 51-year-old gunman killed 18 people in Nova Scotia over the weekend, including a police constable, a corrections officer, a nurse and a teacher, and led police on a miles-long,12-hour manhunt across the Canadian province that ended in his death.

The shooting spree was one of Canada's deadliest.

Authorities have not said what kind of weapons the gunman used.

Trudeau said while campaigning last year that he wanted to ban assault-style weapons across Canada and set up a buyback program for all military-grade weapons that had been legally purchased. Legislation was about to be introduced when Parliament was suspended over the coronavirus pandemic, Trudeau said.

Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil called the shootings one of the most senseless acts of violence in the province's history.
"I never imagined when I went to bed last night that I would wake up to the horrific news that an active shooter was on the loose in Nova Scotia," he said.

Among the victims was elementary school educator Lisa McCully, who worked at Debert Elementary School, according to the Nova Scotia Teachers' Union, which described her a "passionate teacher" and a "shining love" in her friends' and family's lives.

Constable Heidi Stevenson was also killed. It isn't clear when in the rampage she was killed, but she and another officer tried to run the gunman's vehicle off the road, a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation told CNN.

Stevenson was killed and the other officer was injured in an ensuing exchange of gunfire, the source said.

The other officer was hospitalized, the RCMP said on Facebook. The injured officer is recovering from gunshot wounds at home, police said.

"It is with tremendous sadness that I share with you that we lost Cst. Heidi Stevenson, a 23-year veteran of the force," said Lee Bergerman, the RCMP's commanding officer in Nova Scotia. "Two children have lost their mother and a husband his wife. Parents lost their daughter and countless others lost an incredible friend and colleague."

The rampage
The chaos began when police were first called to a "firearms complaint" at a property in the quiet town of Portapique on Cobequid Bay on Saturday at 10:30 p.m. (9:30 p.m. ET). Police found several casualties in and outside the home, said Chris Leather, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police chief superintendent and criminal operations officer in Nova Scotia.

The gunman was identified as Gabriel Wortman. He was a skilled mechanic and had recently bought two used police cars, neighbor Bill McCormack told CTV.

Investigators believe the incident began with a domestic violence incident at a home in Portapique, where Wortman was trying to find his former significant other, the law enforcement source familiar with the investigation said.

Wortman killed two people there before he fled, the source said.

The gunman was wearing either an RCMP uniform or a convincing replica, while driving a car that appeared to be a police vehicle, Leather said. Wortman was not employed by the RCMP, authorities said.

Authorities believe he then began pulling over random motorists and executing them, the law enforcement source said. He was involved in a traffic accident and ditched his fake police crusader for a vehicle stolen from a motorist, the source said.

"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.

Wortman was later seen in Central Onslow and farther south in Brookfield, where police updated the suspect's vehicle description to a silver Chevy Tracker.

Witnesses recall the gunshots
Wortman was involved in a "serious criminal event" in Shubenacadie, about 15 miles south of Brookfield, the RCMP's Serious Incident Response Team said.

Witnesses recalled hearing multiple gunshots in the area, according to CTV News.

Several burned-out vehicles, which may have been police cruisers, sat along the highway, the station reported.

"I hear the shots and ... there's a guy running back and forth up beside what looks to be a police vehicle," a witness at the scene told the station. "Then after a short bit I saw fire."

Following the incident in Shubenacadie, Wortman continued south to Milford and was ultimately found at a truck stop in Enfield between 11 a.m. and noon Sunday, about 12 hours after the initial 911 call to police.

Truck driver Tom Nurani was at the truck stop when he heard a staff member frantically shouting, he told CTV News.

"'Oh my God, lock the doors! He's here!'" Nurani recalled the woman saying. "I peek out of the window, and I saw some RCMP vehicles, and there was four or five uniforms with guns."

Witness Glen Hines was driving past when he heard gunfire, he told the station.

"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," Hines said.

Wortman was killed in a shootout with police in Enfield, about 60 miles from the initial crime scene, Leather said.

CNN's Paula Newton contributed to this report.

At least he's offering more than "thoughts and prayers".

[Beowulf]

Ok, yes. My posting the link to The Onion was sarcasm. I'm not seriously claiming that Canada has a mass shooting problem. But the shooting is being used just like a similar shooting in the US would be, to promote gun control, even though few to no details are known about whether this guy even had his guns legally.

Spoiler: he didn't

Even in the US he'd probably be a prohibited person

[The Romulan Republic]

Alert issued after shots fired in two communities near Halifax:

https://cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/ ... -1.5544137

Reports of shots fired in two Halifax-area communities on Friday afternoon prompted an emergency alert to be issued to Nova Scotians just after 4 p.m. local time on Friday.

The alert said police are on the scene in the wooded area between Haliburton Hills and Highland Park Heights subdivisions in the community of Hammonds Plains, which is a suburb of Halifax.

The alert said there was an additional report of shots fired in the Omega Court area of Hubley, also in the Halifax area.

"Residents are advised to shelter in place and refrain from travel until being advised otherwise," it said.

Multiple stores in Bedford, Sackville and Dartmouth Crossing have been closed down.

The Nova Scotia Health Authority said its hospitals in the central zone, which includes the Halifax area, are in lockdown as a precaution because of the police activity.

Reached by phone, an employee at Canadian Tire in Sackville said there was a report of an active shooter, but could not say anything further.

Also Friday afternoon, Halifax Regional Police said officers are investigating a weapon complaint at 30 Lamont Terrace in Dartmouth — the location of the Canadian Tire in Dartmouth Crossing. Police said in that incident there is no threat to the public at this time.

Not a lot of details yet, but the obvious concern is that its a copy-cat.

[MKSheppard]

https://apnews.com/b3ff9225e7569119b83b9e146523e955

TORONTO (AP) — A gunman who killed 22 people in Nova Scotia this month obtained a replica police car at an auction and outfitted it with a light bar and decals that made it look almost identical to a genuine RCMP vehicle before using it to go on a rampage, police said Tuesday.

Thirteen of the victims were shot to death and nine died in fires set by the suspect, said Royal Canadian Mounted Police Cpl. Jennifer Clarke.

RCMP Supt. Darren Campbell said Gabriel Wortman, 51, owned four used police cars obtained at auction and said he collected police uniforms.

....

Police said they have been in contact with U.S. authorities about Wortman but declined to elaborate. They have said he used a handgun that was obtained in Canada and long guns that he obtained in the U.S.

Basically I think the handgun "obtained in Canada" was the Constable's Smith & Wesson that he took after fatally shooting her.

Wikipedia sez:

Leather also said that Wortman had no possession and acquisition licence and his weapons were illegally purchased, a matter that will be investigated further.[7][8] Superintendent Darren Campbell said Wortman possessed several semiautomatic handguns and two semiautomatic rifles, along with a "significant amount" of ammunition.[24] Police also said one of the weapons had originated in Canada, but all of the others likely came from the United States.[3][37]

[MKSheppard]

https://www.kelownanow.com/news/news/Na ... _licensed/

Chief Supt. Chris Leather said Wednesday that “we have a fairly good idea that, in Canada at least, he didn’t have a firearms acquisition certificate.”

It is illegal to own a gun without the proper licence, which federal legislation formally refers to as a possession and acquisition licence.

Leather later said that it’s now a key part of the investigation to understand how Gabriel Wortman obtained his weapons

[The Romulan Republic]

Well. If he got a gun from the US that he could not have legally acquired in Canada, that' going to lead to quite a bit of anti-American sentiment I imagine. Since it means the US gun culture is effectively exporting mass shootings to Canada.

[Broomstick]

I suspect if he did acquire guns in the US that wasn't done legally, either, but there are a enough loopholes in US gun laws that it's possible.

[MKSheppard]

The federal Liberal government is poised to ban some types of firearms — and those new prohibitions could be made public as soon as Friday, sources told Radio-Canada.

The gun control changes come in the wake of Nova Scotia's recent tragedy, which saw an armed man kill 22 people and leave others wounded. The gunman, who was not licensed to possess firearms, used guns illegally obtained in Canada and from U.S. sources.

Public Safety Minister Bill Blair has drawn up a list of firearms that he is recommending be banned in Canada and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is now reviewing that list, sources said. Trudeau's final approval could come any day now, according to the French-language division of CBC.

According to a document obtained by Radio-Canada, the list includes:

M16, M4, AR-10 and AR-15 rifles. Those styles were used in the Sandy Hook, New Zealand, Las Vegas and Orlando mass shootings. There are an estimated 83,572 in Canada.
Ruger Mini-14s, the type of firearm used in the École Polytechnique shooting. There are an estimated 16,859 in Canada.
Swiss Arms Classic Green carbines. There are an estimated 1,342 in Canada.
M14 rifles, used in the Moncton shooting. There are an estimated 5,229 in Canada.
Vz. 58 semi-automatic rifles, used in the Quebec City mosque shooting. There are an estimated 11,593 in Canada.
CZ Scorpion EVO 3 carbines. There are an estimated 1,813 in Canada.
Beretta CX4 Storm carbines, the type of firearm used in the Dawson City shooting. There are an estimated 1,513 in Canada.
Sig Sauer MCX and Sig MPX carbines and pistols. There are an estimated 1,000 in Canada.
Robinson Arms XCR rifles. There are an estimated 1,834 in Canada.

Source :

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/libera ... -1.5549969

[Jub]

You might scoff, but if those are banned they're more likely to be seized at the border before they end up in anybody's hands. This measure may legitimately have stopped, or at least mitigated, the tragedy that occurred in Nova Scotia.

[Beowulf]

You might scoff, but if those are banned they're more likely to be seized at the border before they end up in anybody's hands. This measure may legitimately have stopped, or at least mitigated, the tragedy that occurred in Nova Scotia.

How?

[Jub]

How?

If a gun is technically legal in Canada, it's possible that a border agent may simply let the weapon through without checking paperwork. In that case, having the weapon hard banned and completely barred from Canada likely stops the weapon at the border. It's entirely possible that this gun slipped past border security entirely unchecked and that no amount of strictness or bans would have caught it, but that's an issue best solved by more thorough checks at the border which can work in tandem with the new laws.

[aerius]

We don't even know HOW he got his hands on the gun(s) yet, and as usual the kneejerk reaction is to go straight for the bans, because reasons. How did he buy the guns in the US? How did he get them across the border? Do we know any of that? No. But we gotta "do something", even if it's as useless as airport security taking away all your nailclippers and sharp objects, only to have the stewardesses hand out metal steak knives with the meals on the plane.