Canadian mass shooter leaves 16 dead

By admin On Apr 20, 2020

A gunman disguised as a police officer,with his car disguised to look like a Royal Canadian Mounted Police cruiser,before changing to another car, shot people in their homes and set fires in a rampage across the Canadian province of Nova Scotia that killed 16 people including the suspect.

#Colchester: Gabriel Wortman may be driving what appears to be an RCMP vehicle & may be wearing an RCMP uniform. There's 1 difference btwn his car and our RCMP vehicles: the car #. The suspect's car is 28B11, behind rear passenger window. If you see 28B11 call 911 immediately. pic.twitter.com/yyeOeBt8Ui

— RCMP, Nova Scotia (@RCMPNS) April 19, 2020

Gabriel Wortman, suspect in active shooter investigation, now believed to be driving small silver Chevrolet SUV. Travelling southbound on Hwy #102 from #Brookfield area If seen, call 911.

— RCMP, Nova Scotia (@RCMPNS) April 19, 2020

Identified victims include;A police officer identified as Constable Heidi Stevenson, a mother of two and a 23-year veteran of the force,Lisa McCully, a teacher at Debert Elementary School, according to a statement from the Nova Scotia Teachers Union ,Jamie Blair and Greg Blair; and Heather O’Brien, a nurse from Truro.

The assault begun later late Sunday,with authorities believing that the shooter may have targeted the first victims,whose bodies were found inside and outside their home in the small,rural town of Portapique, before he begun attacking randomly.

Police identified the man believed to be the shooter as Gabriel Wortman, 51, who was thought to live part-time in Portapique and Halifax. Police had first announced his arrest at a gas station in Einfield outside Halifax,but later said he had died.They did not however give details on his death.

A Gabriel Wortman is listed as a denturist,a person who makes dentures, in the city of Dartmouth, near Halifax, according to the Denturist Society of Nova Scotia website. A suspect photo issued by the RCMP appears to be of the same person seen in video footage being interviewed about dentures by CTV Atlantic in 2014.

Mass shootings are relatively rare in Canada. The country overhauled its gun-control laws after gunman Marc Lepine killed 14 women and himself at Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique college in 1989. Before this weekend’s rampage, that had been the country’s worst.

It is now illegal to possess an unregistered handgun or any kind of rapid-fire weapon in Canada. The country also requires training, a personal risk assessment, two references, spousal notification and criminal record checks to purchase a weapon.