N.S. inquiry: Senior RCMP officer pushed to keep secret safety bulletin on killer

HALIFAX

A deputy commissioner of the RCMP told an inquiry today that in May 2020, less than a month after a gunman killed 22 people in Nova Scotia, he opposed informing the public that a police safety bulletin had raised red flags about the killer nine years before the shootings.

Deputy commissioner Brian Brennan, the RCMP’s second-highest-ranking officer, confirmed that another senior officer suggested during a meeting that the bulletin should be shared with the public, but Brennan rejected the idea.

The bulletin had been distributed to all police forces in the province on May 4, 2011, after an officer with the Truro Police Service learned from a source that Gabriel Wortman wanted to “kill a cop” and was possibly in possession of at least one handgun and several long rifles.

The internal warning was not released publicly until May 29, 2020, when CBC News obtained the document through a freedom of information request.

The bulletin confirmed police across Nova Scotia were aware Wortman could be dangerous nine years before his shooting rampage, even though the RCMP had stated shortly after the murders he was not known to police.

On Friday, Brennan told a commission of inquiry that the bulletin should not have been released because it was unclear what impact it would have had on the RCMP, adding that the Mounties wanted to first speak with Truro police.

Last year, Truro police Chief David MacNeil told inquiry investigators that shortly after the mass murder, he took part in a call with senior RCMP officers who he said “nudged” him not to release the bulletin.