N.S. mass shooter intended to kill ‘at least five others.’ Court documents lay out massacre from RCMP’s perspective

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This article was published 14/06/2021 (1924 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

HALIFAX—The man responsible for Canada’s worst mass killing intended to kill at least five more people — including his partner’s sister — during last year’s rampage in Nova Scotia that claimed 22 victims, police say.

The assertion is found in court documents obtained by the Star that the RCMP have filed in response to a class-action lawsuit. The suit, launched on behalf of the families of the killer’s victims, has named the RCMP and the province of Nova Scotia as defendants.

The documents, filed this month with the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, lay out for the first time a detailed timeline of the Mounties’ response to the Nova Scotia shootings over the 13 hours spanning April 18 and 19 of last year during which the killer terrorized much of Colchester County.

“In total, he killed 22 people and one of the victim’s unborn child, and I believe he intended to kill at least five others,” writes RCMP Supt. Darren Campbell, in the affidavit.

The court documents also show yet another close call the shooter, Gabriel Wortman, had with RCMP, as a cruiser gave chase but lost the gunman’s trail in the morning hours.

And, the RCMP offer a rationale for their decision to use Twitter to alert the public to the gunman at large — a choice that would become a major point of fierce public criticism — citing the national police force’s previous experience in a 2014 mass shooting in Moncton, N.B., during which three Mounties were killed and two more injured.

On April 18, 2020, Gabriel Wortman, a 51-year-old denturist, began his rampage in Portapique, N.S., with the assault and confinement of his common-law spouse, Lisa Banfield, who fled and hid in the nearby woods overnight. The carnage ended 13 hours later, when police spotted and killed Wortman at a gas station in Enfield, N.S., nearly 100 kilometres away. In the interim, he had killed 22 people in four different communities, shot pets and set homes on fire. For much of that time, he was driving a replica RCMP car and wearing a Mounties uniform.

The RCMP affidavit contends that Banfield’s sister, in Halifax, was one of Wortman’s intended targets. That information came from Lisa Banfield herself, speaking to police in the morning after having hidden in the woods overnight.

The affidavit also reveals that among the police on the scene in Portapique on the night of April 18 was an RCMP officer who had earlier ticketed Wortman for speeding on Feb. 12, 2020. At the time, according to the documents, Wortman was driving a decommissioned white 2013 Ford Taurus police cruiser that had reflective tape on the rear bumper.

When multiple witnesses that night told police that the shooter was driving a replica RCMP car, the officer recalled the February speeding ticket and circulated a photograph of Wortman’s licence and the rear of the car he was driving.

By 12:45 a.m., Halifax police were asked to drive by Wortman’s address in Dartmouth where they found a white Ford Taurus, covered with snow, indicating to them that it hadn’t been moved recently.

By 7:30 a.m., the document states, the RCMP were aware — through computer records — of three decommissioned police Ford Taurus cars owned by Wortman and believed they had accounted for all three — two burned out in Portapique, and one covered in snow at his Dartmouth residence.

In fact, the killer was roaming Colchester County in a fourth such car, fully decaled to mimic an RCMP cruiser.

The affidavit refers to the New Brunswick mass shooting from six years prior and the way social media had been used during that incident.

“Social media posts or ‘tweets’ have been considered an effective way to communicate quickly with the public,” reads the document. “This determination has been based on the direct access to social media by the police, and the fact that the RCMP social media is monitored by and rebroadcast or reported on by news media.”

It says the province contacted the RCMP to offer the use of the province’s Alert Ready system, but as the RCMP were preparing an alert, Wortman was spotted and killed by police.

“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,” writes Campbell in the affidavit.

The RCMP account further mentions that around 9:47 a.m. an RCMP officer in the Glenholme area spotted Wortman in his mock Mountie car, turned around and gave chase, but could not catch up to the gunman.

That would have occurred after Wortman had killed Sean McLeod and Alanna Jenkins, their neighbour Tom Bagley, as well as Lillian Hyslop, who was killed on the side of the road.

Wortman would go on to kill Heather O’Brien and Kristen Beaton on the side of the same stretch of road in Debert, then Const. Heidi Stevenson and Joe Webber near the highway in Shubenacadie, and lastly Gina Goulet a short distance away.

The account by the RCMP does not mention video evidence that came to light June 8 — the same day the affidavit was filed — that RCMP officers had a close encounter with Wortman at a Petro-Canada gas station in Elmsdale, N.S.

In surveillance camera footage obtained by Frank magazine, Wortman — at this point the subject of a massive manhunt by police — is shown struggling with the fuel hose at a gas pump as he attempts to fill the car he had stolen from his last victim.

On the other side of the pump, watching Wortman, are officers apparently unaware of his identity.

After returning the hose to the pump, Wortman circles to another gas pump, pauses briefly in his car, then leaves the gas station without incident. Minutes later, an RCMP officer recognized Wortman at an Irving gas station in Enfield, and shot and killed him.

The court documents also does not mention an incident, which took place at the Onslow fire hall the morning of April 19, when in the midst of the manhunt, two RCMP officers opened fire on fellow officers. No one was injured in that incident.

In the wake of the shootings, federal and provincial governments have launched a public inquiry. That inquiry, called the Mass Casualty Commission, on Wednesday announced that public proceedings in the inquiry will take place between Oct. 26 and Dec. 10.

The RCMP court documents lay out a timeline of the mass shooting from their perspective. The picture it paints is one of police coming across the scene of the rampage and discovering the escalating scope of what they are dealing as they work to respond. This is a condensed version of that timeline.

April 18, 2020:

10:01 p.m. — The first 911 call is received from Jamie Blair, reporting that her husband, Greg Blair, has been shot by her neighbour (Wortman). She reports there is a police car in the driveway.

10:26 p.m. — The first RCMP unit arrives in Portapique. The first officer on the scene encounters a survivor who says he’s been shot by someone he believed was Wortman and that he was driving a police car.

10:34 p.m. — Four RCMP units are on the scene and a roadblock is established. Two officers enter Portapique on foot, where they hear gunshots and find several houses on fire.

10:49 p.m. — Police discover the body of one of Wortman’s victims on Orchard Beach Drive. Shortly afterwards, police spot someone approaching in the darkness with a flashlight. As they prepare to engage the person, thinking he might be the shooter, the person turns off the flashlight and runs back into the woods. Shortly after, police locate the body of a second victim. Three and a half hours later, police find the person with the flashlight and clear him as a suspect.

11:10 p.m. — Additional gunshots heard by RCMP officers.

11:12 p.m. — Gabriel Wortman parks his replica RCMP vehicle in the back parking lot of a building in an industrial complex in Debert, 25 kilometres — a 22-minute drive — away from Portapique.

11:20 p.m. — More gunshots heard by police in Portapique.

11:32 p.m. — RCMP issue their first related Twitter message, advising public to avoid Portapique, stay home and lock their doors. RCMP staff also begin to call residents in the area to advise them of same.

11:40-11:45 p.m. — Police report hearing more gunfire in Portapique. They find another house on fire. A witness tells police there might be multiple shooters.

April 19

12:49 a.m. — The first RCMP tactical officers arrive on scene at Portapique. A “Be-on-the-lookout” (BOLO) notice is issued to other police forces for Wortman.

1 a.m. — ERT begin to search for Wortman using thermal imaging and police dogs.

2:19 a.m. — More sounds of gunshot are reported in Portapique. By this time, RCMP have found two burned white Ford Taurus cars at Wortman’s house and warehouse, and Halifax police have discovered a third at his address 130 kilometres away in Dartmouth, N.S.

6:28 a.m. — A 911 call reports that Lisa Banfield has emerged from hiding in the woods overnight. She tells police that Wortman had loaded several firearms into the front seat of his replica police car.

7:30 a.m. — Police determine there are no guns in the burned-out cars in Portapique.

8:54 a.m. — RCMP release another Twitter message, this time with Wortman’s name, a photo and his physical description.

9:47 a.m. — An RCMP officer in the Glenholme area drives by an RCMP car with a driver in a fluorescent vest, believes it is Wortman and turns around in an effort to give chase, but loses him.

10:02 a.m. — 911 calls report the killing of Kristen Beaton and Heather O’Brien along the roadside in Debert.

10:17 a.m. — RCMP tweet a photo of Wortman’s car, for the first time telling the public that Wortman is driving a replica police car.

10:21 a.m. — RCMP tweet that Wortman is in the Central Onslow / Debert region.

10:30 a.m. — Although it’s not mentioned in the RCMP affidavit, two RCMP officers drive into the parking lot at the Onslow fire hall and open fire on a fellow RCMP officer apparently believing him to be the gunman.

11 a.m. — Wortman wounds RCMP officer Const. Chad Morrison in Shubenacadie, 70 kilometres from Portapique and shortly after kills Const. Heidi Stevenson at the same location. He also kills a passerby that stops to help and steals his silver SUV.

11:06 a.m. — RCMP tweet that Wortman is now driving a silver SUV.

11:30 a.m. — RCMP officers spot Wortman at the Irving gas station in Enfield, now driving the stolen car of his last victim. They open fire and kill him.

Steve McKinley is a Halifax-based reporter for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @smckinley1