CANADA - shooter in RCMP vehicle and uniform, 23 killed - Portapique, NS *suspect dead*

[Bravo]

CTV is showing some video right now. Not confirmed yet to be the killer but guy pulls his RCMP car over. Gets out, calmly changes Uniform coat and puts on an Emergency type vest. Pulls away. Calm and relaxed and was not rushed at all. I'll see if the video is up on CTV site.

 

[Bravo]

No link to the video on CTV yet

 

[dotr]

''N.S. RCMP say they were 'in process' of preparing alert when gunman was killed''
•Apr 22, 2020

 

[Lexiintoronto]

This woman can kind of read French, but she can't speak it.

Not much information yet, but they need to stop defending their use of twitter to notify people. They may not be ready to accept blame, but they advocating for their "fluid" response is tone deaf.

I’m writing this with respect and mindful of everyone who has suffered a great loss, but yes: putting out a Tweet at 11:30 pm instead of an SOS alert is incomprehensible.

This is the first Tweet that appeared on my timeline at around 11:30 pm on the night this started (first incident was called in at around 10:00 pm):
RCMP, Nova Scotia
@RCMPNS

“#RCMPNS is responding to a firearms complaint in the #Portapique area. (Portapique Beach Rd, Bay Shore Rd and Five Houses Rd.) The public is asked to avoid the area and stay in their homes with doors locked at this time.”
RCMP, Nova Scotia on Twitter

A father of an RCMP officer lives close by to my home. He may have started the chain reaction, but lights on my dark street started to switch on one by one, and my neighbour knocked on my door to make sure that I was aware of what was going on.

This Tweet is from 8:02 am the next morning. At the news conference this afternoon, the RCMP said the killer had left the perimeter set up by officers at that time:


[URL='https://mobile.twitter.com/RCMPNS']RCMP, Nova Scotia
@RCMPNS[/URL]
·
Apr 19

“#RCMPNS remains on scene in #Portapique. This is an active shooter situation. Residents in the area, stay inside your homes & lock your doors. Call 911 if there is anyone on your property. You may not see the police but we are there with you #Portapique.”
RCMP, Nova Scotia on Twitter

If you go to the RCMP N.S. Twitter feed, they Tweeted out where the active scenes were, and what the public were advised to do.

We didn’t know what was unfolding. Not the gravity of the situation.

Then at 11:40 am, this Tweet (‘taken into custody’: he was actually killed at the scene) :
RCMP, Nova Scotia
@RCMPNS

“Gabriel Wortman, suspect in active shooter investigation, is now in custody. More information will be released when available. Thank you for your cooperation and support. #Colchester”
RCMP, Nova Scotia on Twitter

 

[susiQ]

I just read the article of “OPP looking for a man pretending to be a Police Officer.” I swear the OPP are nuts! This guy is running around with a blue strobe light on his dash, a black long sleeved shirt and a “vest” with “POLICE” on it in a black 4 door SUV pulling someone over to ask to prove they are an essential service worker. Their insane recommendation? If you think the “officer” isn’t authentic, ask him for his identification. Yeah right, while he pulls out a gun and shoots you for questioning his authority? Nice try.

I’m ashamed to say the OPP issued this as a “recommendation.” God help us here in Ontario.

 

[ab01]

An explanation by the RCMP will be required, that’s for sure. By this early report it seemed they believed GW was remained in the Portapigue area throughout the morning hours but that was not so.

“Taggart described knowing Wortman's "lovely big home" on Portapique Beach Road. He said Wortman owned a few other properties in the community and was believed to divide his time between Portapique and his business in Dartmouth.

He described Portapique as "cottage country," with about 100 year-round residents and 250 in the summer.

"You just don't even dream that this is going to happen," he said. "I can't fathom it."

Police identified Wortman about nine hours after an initial tweet around midnight asking people to avoid the Portapique area and stay indoors as officers responded to a firearms complaint.

Cpl. Lisa Croteau, public information officer with the provincial force, said the police received a call about "a person with firearms" at around 10:30 p.m. on Saturday and the investigation "evolved into an active shooting investigation."...”
Active shooter suspect, RCMP officer dead in Nova Scotia (update) - HalifaxToday.ca

CBC has a timeline in this article -
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/nova-scotia-tick-tock-murder-rampage-1.5539000

The thing I hate about this statement is that many don't receive instant alerts from social media or even have social media accounts such as twitter.
"Police identified Wortman about nine hours after an initial tweet around midnight asking people to avoid the Portapique area and stay indoors as officers responded to a firearms complaint."


It sounds like they initially thought that they had him contained inside their perimeter.

Unfortunately he was already gone before they had it fully setup.

I still believe that Nova Scotians had a right to be alerted better than what they were if there was any indication that they may be in danger if they left their homes early sunday.

But I also understand the balance of only using a Provincial wide Alert for extremely rare occasions so that they don't end up being a thing where citizens see it and dismiss it.

But if this didn't call for a quicker alert to the general public I don't know what would.

That's why the questions about a timeline of events from reporters were exactly what they should be asking.

What did they know and when did they know it.

Was the timing of events such that they didn't have time to make an informed decision on the alert.

We do know that per MSM employees of the emergency response system were in the office early Sunday expecting to issue an alert but the info from RCMP never came.

Their will definitely be things that will need to be answered and hopefully they can learn something from this whole situation moving forward.

They owe it to the victims to do all in their power to try to use the information to possibly limit further loss of life if an incident such as this were to happen in the future.

And I'm not blaming anybody in law enforcement, as we still don't know all the facts. Maybe they did the best that they could with the limited information that they had.

With that said just like in any situation that happens like this, there are generally things learned that could have been done better.

 

[lucidtx]

I just read the article of “OPP pretending to be a Police Officer.” I swear the OPP are nuts! This guy is running around with a blue strobe light on his dash, a black long sleeved shirt and a “vest” with “POLICE” on it in a black 4 door SUV pulling someone over to ask to prove they are an essential service worker. Their insane recommendation? If you think the “officer” isn’t authentic, ask him for his identification. Yeah right, while he pulls out a gun and shoots you for questioning his authority? Nice try.

I’m ashamed to say the OPP issued this as a “recommendation.” God help us here in Ontario.

Just call 911 if you're pulled over and concerned whatsoever about the legitimacy of the officer.

 

[Errrr]

I believe, from reading the article, that she likely put her children in the basement because that's what the RCMP was telling residents to do via Twitter.

I would speculate that if she heard gunshots she'd have called the police before doing anything else.

You mean her reaction to a warning to stay inside would be to head for the fire and gunshots?

 

[Lexiintoronto]

I just read the article of “OPP pretending to be a Police Officer.” I swear the OPP are nuts! This guy is running around with a blue strobe light on his dash, a black long sleeved shirt and a “vest” with “POLICE” on it in a black 4 door SUV pulling someone over to ask to prove they are an essential service worker. Their insane recommendation? If you think the “officer” isn’t authentic, ask him for his identification. Yeah right, while he pulls out a gun and shoots you for questioning his authority? Nice try.

I’m ashamed to say the OPP issued this as a “recommendation.” God help us here in Ontario.

Sorry, but from now on until the foreseeable future, if an officer wants to pull me over I’m putting my flashers on to acknowledge him/her and stopping where I feel safe.

 

[Bravo]

Just call 911 if you're pulled over and concerned whatsoever about the legitimacy of the officer.

Or drive to nearest Police Station if possible. If it's a nutbar he isn't going to follow you into a Police Parking Lot.

 

[BearCatSafari]

You mean her reaction to a warning to stay inside would be to head for the fire and gunshots?

No. It was my impression it was implied that she heard gunshots and therefore hid her children before heading outside herself to see if the neighbour's, whose house was on fire, needed help.

I'm saying, it's more likely she put her children in the basement because that's what RCMP told people to do, not because she was hiding them from gunfire.

She was then killed after that.

 

[Sillybilly]

This article has the video of what appears to be an officer changing into his vest.

IMO, it is not GW because the cruiser does not appear to have the upright antenna on the trunk of the vehicle (unless he removed it so it was not easily distinguished)

 

[Inthedetails]

CTV is showing some video right now. Not confirmed yet to be the killer but guy pulls his RCMP car over. Gets out, calmly changes Uniform coat and puts on an Emergency type vest. Pulls away. Calm and relaxed and was not rushed at all. I'll see if the video is up on CTV site.

spooky

 

[ab01]

No. It was my impression it was implied that she heard gunshots and therefore hid her children before heading outside herself to see if the neighbour's, whose house was on fire, needed help.

I'm saying, it's more likely she put her children in the basement because that's what RCMP told people to do, not because she was hiding them from gunfire.

She was then killed after that.

I think she likely did it before she ever had any information from RCMP.

 

[ab01]

This article has the video of what appears to be an officer changing into his vest.

IMO, it is not GW because the cruiser does not appear to have the upright antenna on the trunk of the vehicle (unless he removed it so it was not easily distinguished)

The antenna can be seen in the video JMO

 

[BearCatSafari]

I may have missed it, does anyone know what kind of firearms the killer used?

 

[Inthedetails]

But I also understand the balance of only using a Provincial wide Alert for extremely rare occasions so that they don't end up being a thing where citizens see it and dismiss it.

But if this didn't call for a quicker alert to the general public I don't know what would.

snipped

I agree! I think an active-shooter is a reason to alert. In fact, it's a top reason! imo

 

[susiQ]

Sorry, but from now on until the foreseeable future, if an officer wants to pull me over I’m putting my flashers on to acknowledge him/her and stopping where I feel safe.

Great advice!! I’m with you!

 

[Sillybilly]

The antenna can be seen in the video JMO

I dunno ab01, i've viewed it numerous times and can only see where there appears to be a small black base but not the upright part (upright antenna in photos of his mock-up appear to be about 8" high).

 

[Tilly23]

Unfortunately he was already gone before they had it fully setup.

During the presser, they indicated that they did not know that GW had the fake RCMP cruiser and uniform until Sunday morning - sometime between 7am and 8am. They did not elaborate about who gave them this info.

Could it be possible that the perimeter was fully set up but that they inadvertently let GW through because they thought he was one of their own? If they truly thought they had him within the perimeter, this might also explain why they did not issue a broader alert until Sunday morning.

JMO