Police warned in 2011 about man who would kill 22 in N.S.

HALIFAX — A newly released document reveals that in May 2011, police were told the Nova Scotia man who would later kill 22 people in a shooting rampage wanted to “kill a cop” and was feeling mentally unstable.

The officer safety bulletin, submitted by the Truro Police Service, did not include names in the version released to media, but police Chief David MacNeil confirmed Friday the subject in question was the shooter.

The brief report said a Truro police officer had received information from a source indicating the man was upset about a police investigation into a breakand-enter and had “stated he wants to kill a cop.”

“He believes the police did not do their job in relation to this investigation,” the bulletin said.

The officer went on to say he was told the man owned a handgun and was having some “mental issues” that left him feeling stressed and “a little squirrelly.”

The document, first obtained by the CBC, said the man was also investigated for uttering death threats aimed at his parents less than a year earlier in June 2010. That probe led police to conclude he might be in possession of several rifles, but it’s not clear who conducted that investigation.

The one-page bulletin represents another detailed warning that police received about the killer before the events on April 18-19.

This month, a former neighbour of the shooter said she reported his domestic violence and cache of firearms to the RCMP years ago. Brenda Forbes said that in the summer of 2013, she told police about reports he had held down and beaten his common-law spouse behind one of the properties he owned.

The RCMP have said they are looking for the police record of the incident.

MacNeil said the patrol officer who prepared the 2011 bulletin — Cpl. Greg Densmore — submitted it to the Criminal Intelligence Service of Nova Scotia for analysis and distribution to other police forces.

“Our officer did exactly what was expected of him,” MacNeil said in a statement Friday. “He took the information seriously, documented it and submitted this information.”

MacNeil said it was safe to assume the Amherst Police Department also received the bulletin because it was one of their officers who retrieved it from files on April 18, 2020 — the day the rampage started — and sent it to those investigating the unfolding incident.