What the RCMP knew and didn't tell the public in days after N.S. mass shooting
Details were vague on number of victims, gunman’s history, replica cruiser used during rampage
The RCMP intentionally held back key details — including the number of victims — and evaded questions officers knew the answers to in the early days following the Nova Scotia mass shooting in April 2020, a public inquiry into the tragedy has found.
The Mass Casualty Commission released its report Tuesday on the way the RCMP and government communicated about the April 18-19, 2020, rampage that left several people injured, homes destroyed and 22 people dead, including a pregnant woman.
The records show the public statements top Mounties made in the aftermath of the killings did not reflect the latest information they'd been briefed on internally or the information officers had gathered behind the scenes.
During the first press conference the evening of April 19, 2020, Chief Supt. Chris Leather told reporters "in excess of" 10 people had died and the investigation was ongoing. When asked if he knew the total, Leather said he didn't know and "we're not fully aware of what that total may be."
He said the number could go up and bodies could be found on some of the burned properties.
But that wasn't the full picture.
Number of victims held back
The public inquiry found that "internal knowledge shared" with Leather an hour before that press conference "suggested the victim count was at least 17," and that he'd known for hours his officers had discovered at least 14 bodies.
Lia Scanlan, the civilian director of Nova Scotia RCMP's strategic communications, told the commission in an interview they decided on the number 10 — not based on whether families had been notified, but because they needed to settle on a number and send their speaking notes to be translated into French.
She said they knew the body count would change and the plan had been to provide an updated total the following day.
But things didn't go according to plan because that night, the top-ranking Mountie in the country, Commissioner Brenda Lucki, shared information about a higher total with some media outlets — first 13 and then 17.
Death toll had already risen
The public inquiry has found that by 7 p.m. AT, the RCMP knew Const. Heidi Stevenson and 17 other people were dead and Lucki released that number.
By 11 p.m., police had discovered all 17 crime scenes and knew there were potentially 22 victims, plus the gunman. Eight of the gunman's victims were discovered in or near structures that burned.
The RCMP's investigative log said "confirmation with family members is still needed to determine the exact number of deceased parties," the inquiry found.
Meanwhile, the inconsistencies prompted a flurry of media inquiries to the RCMP.
"It looks awful and I've had to ask my entire team to turn their phones off as a result. Lord help me!!" Scanlan wrote to her counterpart based at RCMP headquarters in Ottawa.
Top Mountie expressed disappointment
On April 28, Assistant Commissioner Lee Bergerman, Leather, Supt. Darren Campbell and Scanlan had a conference call with RCMP headquarters. According to inquiry documents, Lucki expressed disappointment in that phone call about the press briefings carried out by Nova Scotia RCMP.
"In particular, Lucki felt that the Nova Scotia RCMP had disobeyed her instructions to include specific information on the firearms used by the perpetrator," states a summary by the Mass Casualty Commission.
On April 24, Campbell had said the gunman had two semi-automatic handguns and two semi-automatic rifles but declined to elaborate beyond that some may have come from the United States and the Canada Border Services Agency was assisting with the investigation. Leather had previously shared that police did not believe the gunman had a firearms licence.
Firearms legislation in the works
In his notes from the meeting with Lucki, Campbell said the commissioner was "sad and disappointed" and "had promised the Minister of Public Safety and the Prime Minister's Office that the RCMP, [we] would release this information."
He also noted that Lucki expressed "this was tied to pending gun control legislation that would make officers and the public safer."
On May 4, 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a ban on some 1,500 makes and models, including the two of the guns used in the Nova Scotia mass shooting. At that time, police had not released the specifics makes and models used in the attacks.
A week after that announcement, the RCMP confirmed three of the shooter's guns had been obtained in the United States, the inquiry's report states.
A CBC News investigation found that at least two people in Maine may have broken U.S. federal laws by helping Wortman obtain two of the guns he used. It appears unlikely they will face charges.
Campbell wrote he had told the RCMP Strategic Communications Unit not to release information about the perpetrator's firearms out of concern that it would jeopardize the ongoing investigation and he stood by his decision.
The inquiry has not released any notes from Lucki. However, the commissioner released a statement Tuesday evening saying she did not interfere in the investigation and regretted her approach to the April 28 meeting.
"It is important to note that the sharing of information and briefings with the Minister of Public Safety are necessary, particularly during a mass shooting on Canadian soil," wrote Lucki.
She is expected to be called as a witness next month.
Vague on history of violence
In the first press conference, Leather said the gunman was not known to police. The chief superintendent also said he wasn't aware of a history of violence.
But the inquiry has found that behind the scenes, RCMP officers had already pulled together records related to Gabriel Wortman's past dealings with police officers and others.
Not long after RCMP officers shot and killed the gunman at a gas station in Enfield, N.S., another Nova Scotia Mountie found Wortman had previously been charged with assaulting a teenager in Dartmouth and received a conditional discharge. The gunman completed probation, but it did not leave him with a criminal record.
Another officer pulled together a profile summarizing the gunman's interactions with Halifax Regional Police, including a 2010 complaint that he threatened his parents. The profile included mention of Const. Greg Wiley being "a friend" of the gunman and never having seen firearms at his cottage in Portapique.
The same profile summarized a March 2011 tip that the gunman wanted to "kill a cop" and possibly had guns at his cottage in Portapique.
The RCMP would not address that tip until months later after CBC News obtained a copy of the 2011 police bulletin through freedom-of-information legislation. At the time, RCMP said the bulletin had been routinely purged from their system and they didn't have access to it while responding to the mass shooting.
Earlier interaction with police
Before the deadly confrontation with RCMP officers in Enfield, one of the gunman's most recent interactions with police occurred outside his denture clinic in Dartmouth in February 2020. Halifax officers described a man who became "extremely irate and shaking" because they parked in his business lot. The man refused to remove a chain to let the officers out.
The inquiry records do not specify whether Leather was briefed on this information or sent the profile by email.
On April 21, 2020, the RCMP publicly stated the gunman did not have a criminal record and did not include any reference to how he was charged with assault or investigated for making threats or having guns, the inquiry found.
5 press conferences in April
In the week that followed, the RCMP held four more press conferences: on April 20, 22, 24 and 28.
Over the course of that first week, the RCMP was not forthcoming about the number of people injured, the exact time they learned of a shooting in Portapique and the gunman's interactions with Const. Heidi Stevenson prior to her death.
Blair, Lucki and the RCMP all also released different information about the number of crime scenes.
After the issues following the first press conference related to the number of victims, which Scanlan said in an email made them look "inconsistent," RCMP communications officials in Ottawa agreed to defer questions to their counterparts in Nova Scotia.
But prior to an afternoon press conference on April 20, Lucki once again released information about the number of victims, saying 18 people plus the gunman were dead. The prime minister echoed that number in a COVID-19 briefing.
When Leather spoke at the media briefing, he said there were "in excess of 19 victims." He also said they were all adults, though Emily Tuck was 17 years old.
By then, RCMP officers knew her age and had notified Tuck's relatives of her death and that of her parents. The inquiry noted a GoFundMe page publicly stated her age.
Knew teen was among victims
Leather's own handwritten notes from April 20 referenced a "teenage female" among the confirmed dead.
Internally, RCMP Staff Sgt. Steve Halliday emailed two colleagues asking about the discrepancy and Sgt. Laura Seeley responded that Leather "released what he felt comfortable confirming at the time."
It's not clear from the commission documents why Leather stuck to referencing more than 19 when the previous night investigators had said 22.
On April 21, the Nova Scotia RCMP said in a Facebook post there were 22 victims and clarified one victim was 17.
Information about replica cruiser
One of the primary issues raised by families of people killed on the second day of the rampage is why the RCMP did not warn the public earlier that the gunman was driving a replica police cruiser. Three people had mentioned a type of police car being involved within a half-hour of the first 911 call.
During the April 20 press conference, Leather said the mock cruiser was "first reported to us early in the morning [of April 19]" and he never explained where the photo that RCMP released of the gunman's vehicle came from.
On April 22, Leather clarified that details about the gunman having a police car and uniform "came in their totality to us early in the morning of Sunday [April 19], after a key witness was located and interviewed."
In response to a question about why it took so long to inform the public, Leather said "once that information was compiled, it was immediately tweeted by our communications section."
That wasn't exactly true as it was nearly three hours after RCMP obtained a photo of the cruiser that they tweeted out a picture warning the public.
Officers shared intel about decommissioned cars
On April 24, Campbell reiterated that the "critical" details of the car, like its photo, "didn't emerge until the early morning hours of the 19th."
He also said the officers in charge believed they had accounted for all the gunman's decommissioned cruisers and factored it into the consideration of notifying the public.
During that same briefing, Campbell said the RCMP "had not uncovered any information that the police had knowledge that he had possessed these vehicles or that he possessed a replica police vehicle."
However, the inquiry found that by then Const. Nick Dorrington had shared information about a February 2020 speeding stop during which the gunman mentioned collecting Ford Tauruses.
Another officer, Const. Wayne Tingley, had shared with colleagues that he recalled seeing a marked Taurus with a push bar in Elmsdale on April 17 while he was off duty.
Campbell also said investigators did not believe former RCMP officers "provided assistance" or gave the gunman any police equipment. That same day in British Columbia, retired officer Chris Wortman told RCMP he had given parts of his red serge uniform to his nephew, information that had also been shared with police by the gunman's spouse.
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