Afghan vet with PTSD found dead along with wife, mother, daughter
UPPER BIG TRACADIE, N.S. — An Afghanistan war veteran and his wife, mother and young daughter have been found shot to death in a home in rural Nova Scotia.
RCMP said Wednesday it appeared a 33-year-old man shot himself, and that three females also died of gunshot wounds. The bodies were found at about 6 p.m. Tuesday in Upper Big Tracadie.
“The male’s gunshot wounds appear to be self-inflicted. There were no signs of forced entry into the residence,” police said in a release.
A National Defence source identified the husband as retired corporal Lionel Desmond, 33, who served with the Second Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment in CFB Gagetown, N.B., and who family said suffered from PTSD.
The other victims were his wife Shanna Desmond, 31, their 10-year-old daughter Aaliyah and his mother Brenda Desmond, 52.
Two guns were found at the scene, RCMP said.
They would not confirm outright that the deaths were a murder-suicide, saying the investigation is continuing.
Desmond enrolled in the Canadian Forces in 2004 and served in Afghanistan for an eight-month tour in 2007. He was released from the Forces in July 2015.
He had received treatment from the joint personnel support unit (JPSU) at Gagetown for a year before release, a military source said. The JPSU is the unit that provides support to ill and injured soldiers, including those with mental injuries such as PTSD.
Catherine Hartling, a neighbour and Shanna’s aunt, said Lionel Desmond trained as a sniper and was diagnosed with PTSD after returning from Afghanistan.
“He was bad then. They tried to get him help,” Hartling said. “They sent him up to Montreal, and they sent him back and put him on medication.”
Another relative, Rev. Elaine Walcott, said Lionel Desmond had recently tried to check himself into a mental-health unit at St. Martha’s Regional Hospital in nearby Antigonish and was told there were no beds.