A gunman who fired a mock-up police car in an Atlantic Canada shooting spree killed at least 16 people, federal police said Sunday, the worst case of its type in Canadian history. The gunman, identified as 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman, was shot dead by police during a 12-hour manhunt in the province of Nova Scotia that ended Sunday morning. Among many of the victims was a veteran constable with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who also manages the province’s municipal and provincial law enforcement.
Police said the gunman has been on the run since Saturday night. This is when police were notified to shots fired about 100 kilometres (60 miles). It is from Halifax in the town of Portapique. Gun violence in Canada is much less common than in the neighbouring USA. Also, firearms more tightly regulate, but the killings worst ever in the world. It is exceeding the toll in 1989 when a gunman murdered 14 female students at Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique. Public broadcaster CBC cited RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki as saying that, besides the gunman, police are aware of at least 16 casualties.
A male officer has wounded as well as Stevenson, a mother of two. She is in the hospital with semi-life threatening injuries, Bergerman said. The National Post newspaper said that another victim was a teacher at the elementary school. He is citing the woman’s sister’s Facebook message. Several victims discover both inside and outside a Portapique building, triggering the manhunt across multiple neighbourhoods, police state.
Serious Incident Response Team Investigates the Case
Leather said the man appears to wear part of a police uniform at one stage. He drives a car that designs to look like an RCMP cruiser. RCMP repeatedly tweets that he is not an officer and warns that he considers “dangerous.”
Another police spokesman state that the police shoot the shooter after an officer intervened, without further explanation. The Serious Incident Response Team (SiRT), an independent agency, investigates all related incidents police in the province.
Police said they did not have a motive. Lucki told CBC there had been no sign of a terrorist intent “at this stage.”
The National Post has quoted Tom Taggart. A councillor representing Portapique in Colchester Municipality, as saying that the city has been devastated.
