This article originally appeared on VICE Canada.
A man dressed in a police uniform and driving a replica cop cruiser preyed on Nova Scotians’ trust of the police as he committed the worst mass killing in modern Canadian history.
So far, the RCMP has confirmed the killing spree committed by Gabriel Wortman has claimed 17 lives, including himself, and have not ruled out that more victims will be found. The victims include Cst Heidi Stevenson, a 23-year-veteran of the Nova Scotia RCMP; Jamie Blair and Greg Blair; teacher Lisa McCully; and Heather O’Brien, a nurse from Truro, Nova Scotia.
“I want everyone to remember how kind she was. How much she loved being a nurse,” wrote a loved one on Facebook of O’Brien. “The way her eyes sparkled when she talked to her grandchildren and the way she just loved Christmas. Let those things define her. Not the horrible way she died.”
The identities of the other victims have yet to be released or confirmed.
Wortman was shot dead by police mid-day Sunday at a gas station 35 kilometers [21 miles] north of Halifax, ending hours of terror.
Police are still searching multiple crime scenes across the province, which stretch roughly 100 kilometers [62 miles] over small communities and the highway. RCMP Chief Superintendent Chris Leather said at a Sunday evening press conference that the killings, “at least in part, very random in nature.”
“I can tell you that [the killings] were scattered across the province,” said Leather. “Some of these crime scenes we’ve not even begun to process.”
The Globe and Mail spoke to one man who knew Wortman who said the man showed up to his house and pounded on the door with a rifle in hand. The man and his wife hid until Wortman left. “He came here to kill me, there’s no question about that,” the man told the newspaper.
Details on Wortman and a possible motive for the killings are sparse. At a press conference on Sunday evening, RCMP Chief Superintendent Chris Leather said this indicates at least some level of premeditation.
“The fact that this individual had a uniform and a police car at his disposal speaks to this not being a random act,” said Leather.
Wortman’s spree began on Saturday night when police responded to a firearms call in the small town of Portapique, roughly 125 kilometers [77 miles] north of Halifax. When they arrived they found multiple casualties but no sign of the shooter. Wortman’s spree would continue for over 12 hours before finally ending in a hail of gunfire outside an Enfield gas station. At some point, during the spree, Wortman switched from his replica police cruiser to a silver Chevy Tracer.
According to several reports, Wortman owned multiple properties in Nova Scotia including a denture clinic in Dartmouth. The clinic owned by Wortman has since been taped off by police. People who knew of Wortman in the community said the businessman split time between Dartmouth and Portapique. It’s been reported that Wortman’s clinic was shut down because of the COVID-19 crisis and that he struggled with alcohol. In 2014, Wortman was featured in a CTV story after he announced he would be giving free dentures to cancer survivors.
An acquaintance of Wortman said that of one of the two properties Wortman owned in Portapique was a “shrine” to the RCMP. Others have said that Wortman would buy old police cruisers and fix them up. In his 1986 yearbook, Wortman says “Gabe’s future may include being an RCMP officer.”
“He was one of those freaky guys, he was really into police memorabilia,” Nathan Staples told the Globe and Mail.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau released a statement Sunday evening in which he said he was “saddened to learn about the senseless violence in Nova Scotia, which claimed the lives of multiple people.”
The attack has eclipsed the 1989 Ecole Polytechnique massacre as the deadliest mass killing in modern Canadian history.
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