Killer ‘severely abused,’ say documents
HALIFAX — The Dartmouth denturist who killed 22 people in April “was severely abused as a young boy,” Mounties learned right after the mass murder.
The same witness told police the killer “was very smart, cheated, was a psychopath and abused Lisa Banfield (his common-law spouse of 19 years),” according to documents called informations to obtain warrants that were released Wednesday by a judge.
The killer “had a mental break down,” the same person, whose name is redacted, told the RCMP.
During their anniversary celebrations, an argument between the killer and Banfield resulted in her being assaulted, handcuffed and put in the back of an out-of-commission police car, according to the information to obtain.
SaltWire Network has chosen not to name the killer.
Banfield told police that they were celebrating their 19th anniversary with drinks at a warehouse that the killer owned in Portapique near his log home-style cottage. “They weren’t married but had Facetimed friends,” she told Mounties on April 19.
Another acquaintance told Halifax police that she received a text at about 6 p.m. the night the killings started that contained a photo of Banfield and her partner.
She told investigators the killer “was a sociopath and abusive,” according to the heavily redacted documents.
She described the killer showing her what looked like a machinegun on New Year’s Eve.
“This gun was kept in the fireplace by the warehouse.”
Banfield told police on April 19 that she managed to get away from her spouse and hide in the woods after he burned their cottage down.
“Lisa Banfield said that when she was in the woods she heard a couple of guys at a house on the back road and then she heard gunshots and then there was silence. The house went up in flames after that.”
Banfield also told police her partner was heavily armed with military-style weapons and that she thought he had a ballistic vest.
Police were also told the killer was armed with cases of grenades he had obtained in the U.S.
The killings started in Portapique, where the Dartmouth denturist had a cottage, on April 18 after his partner said he snapped. The murderer shot multiple people and set homes on fire.
Dressed in a police uniform and driving a fake police car, he evaded RCMP and killed four more people in Wentworth before heading toward Halifax, killing several more along the way. By the time Mounties shot him dead April 19 at the Enfield Big Stop, he had killed 22 people.
Last week Mounties charged the killer’s common-law wife with providing the gunman with ammunition he used during the mass murder.
Lisa Diana Banfield, 52, of Dartmouth is alleged to have unlawfully transferred .223-calibre Remington cartridges and .40-calibre Smith & Wesson cartridges between March 17 and April 18, 2020.
James Blair Banfield, 64, of Beaver Bank, and Brian Brewster, 60, of Lucasville, are also facing the same charge. They are the older brother and brother-in-law of Lisa Banfield.
RCMP said last week that none of the three knew how the ammunition would be used.