The Mass Accident Committee released its report on Tuesday on how the RCMP and government communicated about the April 18-19, 2020, blast that left several injured, homes destroyed and 22 dead, including a pregnant woman. The records show that the public statements made by the top Mounties after the killings did not reflect the latest information that they had been informed internally or that the intelligence officers had collected behind the scenes. During the first press conference on the evening of April 19, 2020, Chief Supt. Chris Leather told reporters that “more than” 10 people had died and the investigation was ongoing. When asked if he knew the set, Leather said he did not know and “we do not fully know what this set might be.” He said the number could increase and corpses could be found in some of the burned properties. But that was not the whole picture.
The number of victims was restrained
The public inquiry found that “inside knowledge shared” with Leather an hour before that press conference “suggested that the death toll was at least 17” and that he had known for hours that police had found at least 14 bodies. Lia Scanlan, political director of communications strategy at Nova Scotia RCMP, told the committee in an interview that they decided on the number 10 – not because the families were notified, but because they had to agree on a number and send it. their speech notes to be translated into French. He said they knew the number of bodies would change and the plan was to provide an updated set the next day. But things did not go according to plan, because that night, the country’s top Mountie, Commissioner Brenda Lucki, shared information about a higher set with some media – first 13 and then 17. The investigation found that some news outlets were confused as to whether all of Lucki’s release included a gunman. For example, that night CBC News reported Lucki said the death toll rose to 16, plus the perpetrator.
The death toll had already risen
The public investigation found that by 7 p.m. AT, RCMP knew Const. Heidi Stevenson and 17 other people were killed and Lucki published that number. By 23:00, police had uncovered all 17 crime scenes and were aware that there were potentially 22 victims, plus the gunman. Eight of the gunmen were found inside or near burnt structures. Twenty-two people died on April 18 and 19, 2020. Top row from left: Gina Gulett, Down Gulensen, Jolene Oliver, Frank Gulencin, Sean McLeod, Alana Jenkins. Second row: John Zahl, Lisa McCully, Joey Webber, Heidi Stevenson, Heather O’Brien and Jamie Blair. Third row from the top: Kristen Beaton, Lillian Campbell, Joanne Thomas, Peter Bond, Tom Bagley and Greg Blair. Bottom row: Emily Tuck, Joy Bond, Corrie Ellison and Aaron Tuck. (CBC) The RCMP investigation log said that “confirmation with family members is still needed to determine the exact number of dead,” the investigation found. Inconsistencies, meanwhile, have sparked a media query storm in RCMP. “It looks awful and I had to ask my whole team to hang up as a result. Sir help me !!” Scanlan wrote to its RCMP-based counterpart in Ottawa.
Vague about the history of violence
In that first press conference, Leather said the gunman was not known to police. The chief inspector also said he had no history of violence.
However, the investigation found that behind the scenes, RCMP officers had already compiled records of Gabriel Wortman’s previous dealings with police and others.
Shortly after RCMP officers shot and killed the gunman at a gas station in Enfield, New York, another Mountain in New Scotland found out that Wartman had previously been charged with assaulting a teenager in New York. The gunman completed the probationary period, but did not leave him a criminal record.
Another officer compiled a profile summarizing the gunman’s interactions with Halifax Regional Police, including a 2010 allegation that he threatened his parents. The profile included a report by Const. Greg Wiley is a “friend” of the gunman and has never seen a firearm at his Portapik cottage.
The same profile summed up a March 2011 tip that the gunman wanted to “kill a cop” and probably had guns at his vacation home in Portapique.
The RCMP will not address this suggestion until months after CBC News received a copy of its 2011 police report through Freedom of Information Act. At the time, the RCMP said the bulletin had been regularly cleared from their system and they did not have access to it while responding to the mass shootings.
Previous interaction with the police
Prior to the deadly clash with RCMP officers in Anfield, the gunman’s most recent interaction with police took place outside his Dartmouth dentistry clinic in February 2020. Khalifax officials described we were shaking “because they parked in his business. The man refused to remove a chain to let the police out.
The query files do not specify whether Leather was informed of this information or whether it sent the profile via email.
On April 21, 2020, the RCMP publicly stated that the gunman had no criminal record and did not include any reference to how he was charged with assault or investigated for threats or possession of weapons, according to the investigation.
5 press conferences in April
The following week, the RCMP conducted four more press conferences: on April 20, 22, 24 and 28. On April 20, RCMP ottawa communications officers agreed to postpone questions to their Nova Scotia counterparts. But before an afternoon press conference, Lucki once again released information on the number of victims, saying that 18 people plus the gunman were dead. The Prime Minister repeated this number in an briefing on COVID-19. Speaking to the media, Leather said there were “more than 19 victims”. He also said that they were all adults, although Emily Tuck was 17 years old. By then, RCMP officers knew of her age and had alerted Tuck’s relatives to the death of her and her parents. The research noted that a GoFundMe page publicly stated its age.
He knew a teenager was among the victims
Leather own handwritten notes from 20 April reported a “teenager” among the confirmed dead.
Internally, RCMP Staff Sgt. Steve Halliday emailed two colleagues asking about the disagreement and Sgt. Laura Seeley responded that Leather “released what she felt was confirming that moment.”
It is not clear from the Commission documents why Leather went on to cite more than 19 when investigators said 22 the night before.
On 21 April, the RCMP of Nova Scotia stated in a Facebook post that there were 22 victims and clarified that one victim was 17.
Information about the replica cruiser
One of the main issues raised by the families of people killed on the second day of the riot is why the RCMP did not warn the public earlier that the gunman was driving a replica of a police cruiser. Three people had reported that a type of patrol was involved within half an hour of the first 911 call. During a news conference on April 20, Leather said the virtual cruiser “first reported to us early in the morning. [of April 19]and never explained where the RCMP photo of the gunman’s vehicle came from. RCMP Nova Scotia posted on Twitter the photo of the copy of the armed police cruiser at 10:17 a.m. on April 19, 2020. (RCMP Nova Scotia / Twitter) On April 22, Leather clarified that details about the gunman in a police car and uniform “came in their entirety early Sunday morning. [April 19]after a key witness was identified and interviewed. “ Asked why it took so long to inform the public, Leather said: “Once this information was gathered, it was immediately posted on Twitter by our communications department.” This was not exactly true, as it was almost three hours after the RCMP took a photo of the cruiser and posted a photo warning the public. On April 24, Supt. Darren Campbell reiterated that the “critical” details of the car, such as his photo, “did not appear until the early morning hours of the 19th day”. He also said that the officers in charge believed that they were accountable for all the decommissioned weapons of the armed forces and took into account the possibility of notifying the public.
Top Mountie expressed his disappointment
On April 28, Assistant Commissioner Lee Bergerman, Leather, Campbell and Scanlan held a teleconference with the RCMP headquarters. According to the investigation documents, Lucki expressed his disappointment in this phone call for the press updates made by Nova Scotia RCMP. “In particular, Lucki considered that the RCMP of Nova Scotia had disobeyed its instructions to include specific information on the firearms used by the perpetrator,” said a summary from the Committee on Massive Losses. In his notes, Campbell wrote that he had told the RCMP Strategic Communications Unit not to disclose information about the perpetrator’s firearms for fear that it would jeopardize the ongoing investigation.
