N.S. killings show public threat of domestic violence
Experts say many mass murders start with abuse of people closest to home
Before blazing a trail of carnage across Nova Scotia, the man behind one of Canada’s worst mass killings attacked his longtime girlfriend — a story domestic violence experts say is eerily familiar.
Police say this assault was potentially the “catalyst” for the horrific murder spree that claimed 22 victims last week.
Many mass killings begin with abuse of the people closest to home, say researchers and advocates. To prevent future tragedy, they say authorities need to recognize the threat domestic violence poses to the public. “When women are in danger in our community, all men, women and children are in danger,” said Peter Jaffe, a psychologist who has studied violence against women and children for 40 years.
“It’s not just an issue of violence against women. It usually suggests a much broader pattern of concern about the perpetrator.”
The Western University professor co-authored a study for the Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative that analyzed 418 cases of domestic homicide in Canada between 2010 and 2015. Researchers found 13 per cent of cases involved the homicide of third parties, including family members, new partners and bystanders.
A recent report by American non-profit Everytown for Gun Safety also indicates that in more than half of U.S. mass shootings between 2009 and 2018, the perpetrator shot a current or former intimate partner or family member.
Some of Canada’s deadliest mass murders fit that pattern, said Jaffe.
In Edmonton, a man suspected of domestic violence shot and killed six adults and two young children before killing himself in 2014, marking the worst mass shooting in the city’s history.
In 1996, a man enraged by his wife’s divorce action killed her and eight of her family members then shot himself in Vernon, B.C.
Jaffe noted that the gunman who killed 14 women at Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique in 1989 had experienced violence in the home as a child. This suggests the cycle of abuse can have far-reaching — and sometimes fatal — consequences across generations, he said.
In many cases, Jaffe said, law enforcement or community members are aware of a perpetrator’s domestic abuse before the broader bloodshed begins.
He said reports indicate that may have been the case for 51year-old Gabriel Wortman and his longtime girlfriend. But it’s unclear whether anyone tried to intervene before the domestic assault that set him off on a shooting and arson spree across Nova Scotia last week.
One neighbour in the coastal town of Portapique said Wortman was openly controlling and jealous of his partner, but he never saw the couple’s fights come to blows.
At some point last Saturday night, the woman was beaten and allegedly bound, according to sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Police said the woman managed to escape their home and hid in the woods overnight. When she emerged at daybreak, she called 911 and provided authorities information about the suspect.
Meanwhile, the gunman was passing through rural communities disguised as an RCMP officer, shooting people and setting houses ablaze. After a 13hour manhunt, he was fatally shot by police Sunday at a gas station in Enfield, about 90 kilometres south of Portapique.