No one dared to imagine what would happen if the man who shot 22 people in Nova Scotia in April 2020 did not accidentally encounter the officers who shot him at a gas station north of Halifax.
There is no doubt that the shooter would have continued his killer run. But until when? And at the cost of some other life?
Documents and testimony before the commission of inquiry responsible for shedding light on this drama of confusing violence show that for more than 13 hours, the armed murderer was able to evade the police and even pass under their noses. , completely unnoticed, in some instances.
Despite indications in advance of the killings, it took law enforcement several hours to find out that the shooter was wearing the uniform of a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and that he was driving a fake patrol car.
Just because Gabriel Wortman stolen a car with an almost empty fuel tank, in the last minutes of the hunt, he unexpectedly found himself at the bomb of a gas station in conjunction with officers Craig Hubley at I’m MacLeod which gave him a fatal blow.
The effects of that murder are still being felt in Nova Scotia two years later, almost to this day.
” We have all suffered. We have seen a lot. We also lost ourselves. Life will never be the same for us. “
Until the last half hour of the shootout, which lasted two days, the killer kept one or two of those chasing him.
Police searched for him and believed him dead in the village of Portapique until the dawn of April 19, 2020 when he fled the previous day via a private road after killing 13 of his neighbors and setting several fires.
The basement was just tight at the very end
They also looked for him in vain Wentworth where he had four other victims. They thought they had finally caught up with him glenholme and in Onslow – where two officers of RCMP Accidentally fired a bullet at a fire station – while he was in the process of killing two unknown women, including a pregnant woman, in Debert.
Once the basement tightened Gabriel Wortman when police Heidi Stevenson face him on the side of the road near Shubenacadie.
He was able to wound it in the head before being killed in exchange for gunfire. And the killer fled, again, after shooting a passerby and stealing his car.
Police quickly obtained the description of the new vehicle in which the fugitive was. But in the meantime, the 51-year-old became the final victim, stealing his car and changing his clothes.
Officials of RCMP also identified the kill at a service station inElmsdale without being alerted this man who was now wearing a white sweater and denim pants, left without refueling after parking his car at the pump on the wrong side of the gas tank door.
It’s at another gas station a little farther south, Enfield, whose worst mass shooting in recent history in the country ended minutes later. An ending that remains less deliberate.
The agents Craig Hubley at I’m MacLeod also stopped to refuel their car. They had no idea that the man they had been actively looking for for over 13 hours was next to the bomb.
He looks very tired. He is bloody.
But this time, the wound on the killer’s head really aroused the suspicions of the police.
He was restless. He breathed a sigh of relief. Her mouth was open. He looks very tired. He is bloodysaid the agent Craig Hubley in his appearance at the April 2020 Mass Casualty Commission in Nova Scotia.
That’s him! That’s him!he shouted at the companion after recognizing the killer.
The two constables explained to the commission of inquiry in Halifax that they decided to shoot the suspect when they saw him grab a pistol that was in his vehicle.
They fired a total of 23 projectiles at the windshield and passenger side window of the vehicle.
” We have to fire until the threat is over. “
In his address to the commission, Nova Scotia Chief Medical Examiner Dr.r Matthew Bowesindicated that before being shot by police, the Portapique killer may have sustained a gunshot wound to the head very debilitating but not immediately fatal.
The agents Craig Hubley at I’m MacLeod They also say they saw the shooter carry his gun to his temple in the final seconds of the hunt.
Hundreds of lives have changed
These testimonies are in accordance with the wife of the shooter, Lisa Banfieldwho told RCMP that in the weeks before the hunt, his companion had repeatedly expressed a desire to die in an instant.
The Portapique massacre claimed 22 lives and upset hundreds more.
He also labeled the first responders as firefighters Darrell Curriewhich is in the barracks ofOnslow–Belmont police inadvertently fired on the building, and is still living with the post-traumatic stress caused by this incident.
I didn’t lose a life that day, but I lost the life I hadhe said in his appearance in the face of public questioning.
Over the past eight weeks, participants in Mass Casualties Commission public hearings have seen the timeline of events on April 18 and 19, 2020 pass their sight. Sometimes, weaknesses become obvious in the intervention of law forces.
These hearings raised important questions.
Ang RCMP Did it deploy enough agents in the early hours of the killings? Do field officers have timely access to all key information received by the 911 operator? Did triggering a public alert save lives?
On the call for the rescheduling of the commanders of the police force, the commissioners Michael MacDonald, Leanne Fitch and Kim Stanton signal their intention to get to the bottom of things.
In their final report, expected in the fall, they should make recommendations to prevent such a tragedy from happening again. Or at least, so that intercepting a threat like the Portapique shooter isn’t too much left to chance.
Source: Radio-Canada