TORONTO (AP)– A man disguised as a police officer went on a shooting rampage in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, killing 16 individuals Sunday, in the deadliest such attack in the country’s history. Authorities stated the thought shooter was also dead.
A policeman was amongst those eliminated. Numerous bodies were found inside and outside one house in the small, rural town of Portapique, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of Halifax– what police called the very first scene. Bodies were also discovered at other areas.
Overnight, police began advising locals of the town– currently on lockdown since of the coronavirus pandemic– to lock their doors and stay in their basements. A number of homes in the area were set on fire as well.
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Cops determined the guy thought to be the shooter as Gabriel Wortman, 51, who was believed to live part-time in Portapique. Authorities said he used a police uniform at one point and made his cars and truck look like a Royal Canadian Mounted Police car. Authorities believe he might have targeted his very first victims however then started attacking randomly.
Detectives examine a car at a gas bar in Enfield, Nova Scotia. on Sunday, April 19,2020 A suspect in an active shooter investigation and an RCMP officer are dead after a prolonged police chase in Nova Scotia (Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press via AP)
Police initially revealed that they had actually arrested Wortman at a filling station in Enfield, outside Halifax, however later stated he had actually died. It was not clear how, and they did not discuss even more.
” This is one of the most senseless acts of violence in our province’s history,” said Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil.
RCMP spokesman Daniel Brien verified that 16 individuals had actually been killed in addition to the suspect. The dead officer was determined as Constable Heidi Stevenson, a mother of two and a 23- year veteran of the force. Another officer was also hurt.
Mass shootings are relatively rare in the nation. Canada revamped its gun-control laws after a 1989 mass shooting in which gunman Marc Lepine killed 14 women and himself at Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique college. Prior to this weekend’s rampage, that had actually been the nation’s worst.
It is now prohibited to possess an unregistered handgun or any kind of rapid-fire weapon in Canada. The country also needs training, an individual threat evaluation, two recommendations, spousal notice and criminal record checks to buy a weapon.
” As a nation, in moments like these, we come together to support one another. Together we will grieve with the households of the victims, and assist them get through this challenging time,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a written declaration.
While they believe the attack did not start as random, police did not say what the initial intention was. RCMP Chief Superintendent Chris Leather said much of the victims did not know the shooter.
Authorities block the highway in Debert, Nova Scotia on Sunday, April 19,2020 (Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press via AP)
” That reality that this individual had a uniform and a police vehicle at his disposal certainly speaks with it not being a random act,” Leather said. He included that cops think he acted alone.
Leather stated they would examine whether the attack had anything to do with the coronavirus pandemic but no link has been found thus far.
At one point, there was an exchange of shooting between the suspect and cops, he said.
Late Sunday early morning, there were half a lots police car at the scene of the gasoline station where the suspect passed away. Yellow authorities tape surrounded the gas pumps, and a big silver-colored SUV was being investigated.
Cpl. Lisa Croteau, a spokesperson with the provincial force, stated cops received a call about “a person with guns” late Saturday night, and the examination “developed into an active shooting examination.”
Christine Mills, a resident of the location, stated it had actually been a frightening night for the small town, with armed officers patrolling the streets.
Tom Taggart, a lawmaker who represents the Portapique location in the Town of Colchester, said the quiet community has been shaken.
” This is just a definitely fantastic, peaceful quiet neighborhood and the idea that this might take place in our community is unbelievable,” Taggart said by phone from his home in close-by Bass River.
A Gabriel Wortman is noted as a denturist– an individual who makes dentures– in the city of Dartmouth, near Halifax, according to the Denturist Society of Nova Scotia website. A suspect image issued by the RCMP seems of the exact same person seen in video footage being interviewed about dentures by CTV Atlantic in 2014.
Workers with the medical examiner’s workplace get rid of a body from a filling station in Enfield, Nova Scotia on Sunday, April 19,2020 (Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press by means of AP)
Mills likewise said that Wortman was known in your area as someone who divided his time in between a residence in Halifax and a house in Portapique.
Taggart said he didn’t know Wortman well, but talked to him a couple of times when he telephoned about municipal problems.
Taggart explained knowing Wortman’s “lovely big home” on Portapique Beach Road.
