Police: Argument started Canada rampage
TORONTO — Canada’s deadliest mass shooting began with the gunman’s assault of his girlfriend, who escaped, hid in the woods overnight and emerged in the morning with information crucial to stopping him, police said Friday.
Darren Campbell, a superintendent with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Nova Scotia, said the assault and escape were a “significant incident” that could have been the “catalyst” for Gabriel Wortman’s nearly 14-hour rampage in the eastern province last weekend. But he said he was not discounting that it was premeditated.
The details emerged as investigators for the first time laid out a specific timeline of the attack, which ended with 23 people dead, including an RCMP officer and the gunman, several structures in flames and 16 crime scenes.
Police have said that Wortman, who carried out part of the attack dressed in an authentic police uniform while driving a sophisticated mock-before up of an RCMP vehicle, acted alone.
But they were investigating whether anyone assisted him before the rampage.
Campbell said the 51-year-old denturist had a handgun and several long-barreled guns. One of the guns has been traced to Canada, while the others were traced to the United States. Police were investigating how the obtained them.
The attack began the night of April 18 in the town of Portapique, where Wortman owned a residence. Campbell said officers arrived and found a man who said he had been driving when he was shot by someone in what resembled a police car. Police found several homes and cars on fire, including Wortman’s, and many dead bodies inside and outside residences.
The next morning, Wortman’s girlfriend emerged from the woods and provided police with detailed information about him, including that he was wearing a police uniform and driving a mock-up RCMP vehicle, police said.
In the hours that followed, Wortman continued his murderous rampage. He set homes on fire and shot and killed a woman out for her morning walk, as well as drivers he pulled over. Police said some of the victims were known to him, while others were targeted at random.
At some point, he removed the police uniform and drove to a gas station in Enfield, where he was shot and killed by a police officer who was refueling his vehicle.
The RCMP has faced criticism this week for its response to the attack and questions about how
Wortman could have evaded the Mounties for nearly 14 hours.
“I’ve been a police officer for almost 30 years now, and I can’t imagine any more horrific set of circumstances (than) when you’re trying to search for someone that looks like you,” Campbell said.
The police also have been condemned for tweeting information on the attack as it was unfolding instead of sending it through an emergency alert system that would have transmitted warnings to cellphones, radios and televisions. Some of the families and friends of the victims said the alert system might have saved lives.
Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil said officials asked the RCMP if it wanted to use the system. Police said they were preparing to use it when the gunman was shot and killed.
As police searched for the suspect on the morning of April 19, they also shot at a firehouse where people who left their homes because of the rampage were being housed. The incident is now being investigated by a provincial civilian police watchdog.