N.S. mass shooter’s common-law wife joins class-action suit

The families of the victims of Canada’s worst mass shooting have added the killer’s common-law wife to the list of defendants in a lawsuit against his estate.

Lisa Banfield, along with James Banfield and Brian Brewster were added as defendants on Friday to the victims’ families’ proposed class-action lawsuit, said the families’ lawyer, Sandra McCulloch, in a Monday release.

The move comes after the three were charged in early December with unlawfully transferring ammunition between March 17, 2020 and April 18, 2020. Those were the first charges to be brought since the investigation into the killings began. Police said based on their investigation the three charged had no prior knowledge of the gunman’s actions in Colchester County on April 1819.

The ammunition specifically cited by police was .223-calibre Remington cartridges and .40calibre Smith & Wesson cartridges. RCMP investigators allege the ammunition was purchased and trafficked in Nova Scotia.

“Based on the criminal charges recently laid, coupled with information and evidence previously obtained on behalf of our clients, there is support for possible civil liability between these parties and the families and individuals we represent,” said McCulloch.

The class action, which has yet to be certified, had previously named as defendants the Public

Trustee — as a representative of the killer’s estate — and a number of companies owned or controlled by him.

Gabriel Wortman, a 52-yearold denturist, began his murderous rampage in Portapique, N.S., on the night of April 18, beginning with the assault and confinement of his commonlaw spouse. Banfield escaped and hid in the nearby woods overnight.

That rampage ended 13 hours later, on April 19, when police spotted and killed him at a gas station in Enfield, N.S., near 100 kilometres away. In between, he killed 22 people in four different communities, shot pets, set homes on fire and terrorized much of Colchester County in northern Nova Scotia. For much of that time, he was driving a replica RCMP car and wearing a Mountie uniform.

The federal and provincial governments have launched a public inquiry into the events and police response around the killings. The three commissioners on the inquiry panel are expected to produce an interim report by May 2022, with a final report in November.