RCMP details response to mass shooting

HALIFAX — The first few RCMP officers to arrive in Portapique during last year's shooting thought they had located the gunman within their first hour on scene, when a person carrying a flashlight approached them.

But the man, who turned off the light and ran into the woods, wasn't the denturist who went on a 13-hour rampage on April 18-19, 2020. He was the brother of one of the 22 victims and an unborn baby killed by a gunman, who SaltWire Network has chosen not to name, dressed as an RCMP officer.

An affidavit of Supt. Darren Campbell, officer in charge of support services for Nova Scotia RCMP, filed with the Nova Scotia Supreme Court last week, shows moments of the RCMP's confusion as it responded to what would be the deadliest mass shooting in Canadian history.

The nine-page document is in response to the proposed class-action lawsuit, filed by the families of the mass-shooting victims last June, against the Nova Scotia RCMP and attorney general of Nova Scotia.

The lawsuit claims the force “breached the standard of care expected of them” during the mass shooting in mid-April, and acted in a “high-handed, self-serving and disrespectful manner” in its aftermath. It also criticizes the RCMP's communication with the families and public, during and after the shooting, staffing levels and how it handled evidence, among other areas of concern.

Campbell's written statement is the RCMP's first update since June 2020.

OFFICER RECALLED TICKET

At 10:01 p.m., a woman called 911 to report her husband had been shot by her neighbour, who is a denturist, and there were police cars in the driveway. The call was the first 911 call received in relation to the mass shooting.

The first RCMP officer on scene came across a man who also said he had been shot by a man he believed was his neighbour.

About 35 minutes after the first 911 call, two officers combed through Portapique Beach Road in search of an active shooter and came across several buildings and a white Ford Taurus decommissioned police cruiser on fire.

The officers also heard gunshots, according to the document, but the gunman had left the area along a back road before officers even arrived.

At one point throughout the night, a witness told RCMP there may be multiple shooters.

By midnight, there were 23 RCMP units on scene in Portapique, including officers who had issued the gunman a ticket for speeding in February 2020.

“At the time of the traffic stop, the gunman was driving a white 2013 white Ford Taurus decommissioned police cruiser with reflective tape on the rear bumper. At that time, one of the RCMP members took a photo of the gunman's driver's licence, vehicle and the speed radar reading,” the document says.

“When witnesses described that the gunman was driving a car that resembled a police car, the member recalled the traffic stop and circulated the photograph of the gunman's licence, speed and the rear of his Ford Taurus vehicle.”

Criminal record checks on the gunman “did not reveal any significant information,” nor were there any recent entries on the Canadian Police Information Centre database. He also didn't have a firearms possession and acquisition licence.

At 12:45 a.m., RCMP asked Halifax Regional Police to watch the gunman's business/ residence in Dartmouth.

SISTER MAY BE A TARGET

After learning the gunman had residences in Portapique and Dartmouth, the RCMP “began to inform other police forces of the gunman's identity and the incidents that were taking place in Portapique.”

As the search of the twokilometre lockdown section in Portapique continued, several calls of suspicious activity from different points west of Portapique or the Portapique river came through to 911, but were deemed false alarms.

At 2:19 a.m., the man with a flashlight who fled into the woods after police spotted him was found by RCMP.

Then, at 6:28 a.m., a 911 call reported Lisa Banfield, the gunman's common-law spouse, had come out from hiding in the woods overnight.

“In addition to providing details regarding the gunman, she reported that he had loaded several firearms into the front seat of a replica RCMP vehicle, had assaulted her and that her sister may be a target,” the document says.

“When Halifax Regional Police contacted her sister, members of Banfield's extended family shared a photo of the gunman's fully-marked replica RCMP Ford Taurus. This photo was provided to the RCMP Critical Incident Command at about 7:22 a.m."

Shortly after 8 a.m., RCMP tweeted about an active shooter situation in Portapique, but didn't release information about the gunman, his photo or the fact that there were several victims until just before 9 a.m.

It wasn't until after 9:30 a.m., when a 911 caller reported a woman deceased on the road near Wentworth and that an RCMP car was seen leaving the scene and heading towards Truro, that officers had an indication of the gunman's location.

An RCMP officer in the Glenholme area passed a marked RCMP vehicle, which he believed to be the gunman, but couldn't find the vehicle when he turned around to catch the shooter.

Shortly after 11 a.m., a caller reported the gunman was in a grocery store in Truro, which was a false report.

Calls rolled in to 911 as the gunman made his way through Shubenacadie, killing three people, before continuing on to Enfield.

“RCMP members encountered the gunman at a gas station in Enfield, 23 kilometres south from the collision and murder scene in Shubenacadie. One of the RCMP members recognized the gunman, who was then shot and killed by the RCMP members shortly before 11:30 a.m. on April 19, 2020,” the document says.

Campbell says “shortly before the gunman was killed,” the province's Emergency Management Office had contacted the RCMP and offered to send out an emergency alert.

“To my knowledge, at the time of these events, no police force in Canada had used a provincial emergency alert in relation to an active shooter event,” Campbell says in his statement. “The RCMP accepted the offer and were in the process of preparing the alert when the gunman was shot and killed by RCMP members.”

Campbell said he believes the gunman had intended to kill at least five other people, but the motivation behind the tragedy “remains unclear in several cases,” as some of the victims were known to the gunman, some were acquaintances, some were neighbours and some were strangers.