MURDER-SUICIDE INQUIRY EXPECTED TO BEGIN NEXT YEAR

The long-awaited fatality inquiry into the death of an Afghan war veteran who killed his family and himself in rural Nova Scotia is expected to begin early next year — more than two years after the killings. Lionel Desmond, 33, was diagnosed with PTSD after serving two tours in Afghanistan in 2007. On Jan. 3, 2017, he shot his wife Shanna, 31, their 10-year-daughter Aaliyah and his 52-year-old mother Brenda before turning the gun on himself in the family’s rural home in Upper Big Tracadie, N.S. The inquiry will examine whether Desmond had access to mental health and domestic violence services — and whether he should have been able to buy a gun. The provincial government promised the inquiry in December 2017, and its terms of reference were later released in May.