An All-Around Mess

By the time that Gabriel Wortman had been shot by police, he had killed twenty-three people.

For thirteen hours, the RCMP did not send out an all media warning that there was an active shooter in the small community of Portipique, Nova Scotia. While many Canadians were unaware of Wortman's ongoing rampage, Americans in the area were well-informed by the American consulate in Halifax that sent out warnings.  The RCMP was just getting around to issuing a report for Canadian residents of Portipique when Wortman was taken out.


Now begins the butt-covering:

Police inexperience, pitch black night and a chaotic crime scene with 13 bodies and multiple fires: It was a perfect storm of conditions that kept the RCMP off the trail of mass murderer Gabriel Wortman for 13 hours, a former police detective says. 

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“We have a fairly good idea, at least in Canada, that he did not have an FAC – a firearms acquisition certificate,” Nova Scotia RCMP superintendent Chris Leather said at a Wednesday afternoon press conference.

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Investigators believe Wortman and his girlfriend were at a party at a nearby home in the Portapique area when Wortman began arguing with her. They left the party and sources believe Wortman escalated the argument back at his cottage — assaulting her and tying her up. She escaped and hid in the woods.

Wortman left his cottage after the assault and investigators believe that’s when the shootings started. He returned to the house where the party was being held and killed several people there, sources said.

Also - Voldemort!:

In fact, Trudeau went much further than saying “don’t use his name.” He said we should only pay attention to “the lives we lost and the families and friends who grieve.” Trudeau’s utterances often disintegrate upon parsing, but that’s just weird. There are all kinds of other things we should pay attention to, just as there are after every mass murder, from the culprit’s motives to where he got his weapons to any red flags that various authorities might have missed, to how such crimes might be prevented in future.

And:

Nova Scotia's police watchdog is investigating why two RCMP officers started shooting at a fire hall while a killer disguised as a Mountie was on the loose.

Pat Curran, interim director of the Serious Incident Response Team, says the officers fired their weapons around 10:30 a.m. Sunday at the Onslow-Belmont Fire Hall, near Truro.

Curran says it's unclear why the officers opened fire, because the suspect was believed to be elsewhere.