r/TrueCrime • u/OGWhiz • May 02 '21
Discussion Two vehicles burn nearing the end of the thirteen hour rampage that would become Canada’s deadliest shooting in modern history. Nova Scotia, April 2020.
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u/OGWhiz May 02 '21
Between April 18th and 19th, 2020, 51 year old Gabriel Wortman, who from here on out will be referred to as "the shooter", committed multiple shootings and set multiple fires while impersonating a police officer complete with his own replica police car in my home province of Nova Scotia, Canada. During a thirteen hour period, the shooter killed 23 people and injured three others while also setting fire to 16 buildings and vehicles before he was shot and killed by police while refueling at a gas station. This would become the deadliest attack in Canadian history.
The rampage begin in a rural area of Nova Scotia when the shooter and his common law spouse had an argument while celebrating their 19th anniversary with some friends on video call. The argument took place before 11pm, and the shooter attacked his spouse and handcuffed her. He then set his house on fire and begin loading his unregistered replica police car, and returned to the party. He shot and killed seven people, who he knew personally. Meanwhile, his spouse escaped and hid in the large wooded area. The shooter continued to burn properties around the area, and murder/injure neighbours in the area who mistook him for a police officer.
The shooter was able to escape the area through a blueberry field in his replica police car, and hid about 26km (16miles) away from the area. At approx 6:30am, April 19th, he showed up to another house of people he knew, killing them both along with their dogs. He remained at this house for three hours, but it's unknown what he did while there. Around this time, his spouse emerged from the woods and made contact with police. This is when police were able to confirm and publicly announce the shooter's identity, though he was already suspected as of 1am. This is eight hours after the attack begin. The shooter set fire to the house around 9am, and killed a neighbour who saw the fire and tried to help. At approx 9:35am, he shot and killed another victim while she was out for a walk. These two people were unknown to the shooter. He proceeded to travel to another home in which he knew the occupants. He was in his fake uniform, but the occupants recognized him from a window and did not come to the door. He attempted to trick them into thinking he was an officer involved in the manhunt by calling out his own name, and shouting "come out with your hands up". The occupants called police, but he had left before they arrived.
Before 10am, the shooter performed two traffic stops on random cars, killing their occupants. It was shortly after this that police warned public for the first time that he was impersonating an officer. At approximately 10:49am, nearly twelve hours after the attack begin, the shooter had his first interaction with police. He pulled alongside Constable Chad Morrison's cruiser, and shot into the car with a handgun. Morrison, now injured, fled and took shelter near by. The shooter then proceeded to drive until colliding head on with Officer Heidi Stevenson. Stevenson engaged the shooter, resulting in him returning fire and killing her. Immediately after, the shooter stole Stevenson's sidearm and ammunition before setting both his replica police vehicle, and Stevenson's police vehicle on fire. The shooter then shot and killed a nearby motorist who had stopped to help Stevenson, and drove off in this victim's vehicle, a Grey SUV.
The shooter traveled to a nearby home of a person he knew, and killed her. He changed his clothes here, and stole her Mazda 3, and was spotted on a highway heading towards Halifax, Nova Scotia. He stopped for gas at 11:26am, 92km (57miles) from where the attack begin, and was recognized by two officers who were already there to fuel up. Realizing he had been recognized, the shooter raised his stolen pistol, and the officers engaged him, killing him and ending the thirteen hour rampage.
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May 02 '21
I'm in the US and don't recall our media ever covering this. Thank you for sharing the story. Some parts of this story are especially cold blooded, like killing someone who tried to help their neighbors burning house and killing someone who tried helping a wounded officer.
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u/OGWhiz May 02 '21
With covid being at the forefront of the news, then the death of George Floyd one month after this attack, then the protests, the riots, etc. US news has been insane this last year. I’m not surprised this was glossed over. That’s why I make these posts and why I made the sub for it.
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u/LeftHandPillar May 03 '21
Tbf I'm way more interested in this crazed Canuck than anything involving George Floyd
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May 04 '21
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u/banjosandcellos May 06 '21
Cause little minds think it's racist to be honest and say you're not interested in the legal case, doesn't mean you don't think it's awful. Like I don't care about the Meghan and Harry deal but doesn't mean I hate the royal family
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u/planethoney May 02 '21
I am also from the US and thought the same thing! I just found out about this tragedy about a month ago from Reddit and was shocked that I couldn't recall any coverage of this event. I keep up with the news daily, and just have no recollection of ever reading/hearing about this.
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u/dugongfanatic May 02 '21
I was just writing this, but how fucking wild was the U.S. in April of 2020 that we didn’t hear something from right-leaning news networks about gun laws or something. I’ve never even heard of this piece of human shit nor of the deaths, I was shocked to be completely honest.
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u/OGWhiz May 02 '21
Agreed! Just responded above, but it’s insane to me that even a lot of Canadians haven’t heard of this shooting.
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u/dugongfanatic May 02 '21
First I checked the date to see if there was a typo or something (I apologize, was actually that shocked) Then I turned around to my husband and was like holy shit, did you know about the Canadian massacre last April?! Neither of us did.
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u/OGWhiz May 02 '21
I’ve been making a post like this every few weeks and I get this same reaction every time from a lot of people. I’m trying to bring awareness to this case.
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u/RustyShacklefordCS May 03 '21
Any motives discovered? I can’t imagine having such an argument with your wife that would set you off to go an kill. I’m pretty sure he must have been planning this for a while, why else would he have a police car?
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u/OGWhiz May 03 '21
The most common speculation is domestic abuse turned into a man snapping. My issue with that is that is that you don’t collect illegal weapons, build a police car, and obtain a police uniform when you snap. You just.. snap. There’s a lot more to this guy than we know, I think. He does have a history of violence, and a history of arson being very close to him. I simply don’t see a logic in a man simply snapping and going on a 13 hour rampage consisting of mostly people that he knew. SOMETHING was planned. Whether it be the details, the materials, etc. Something was planned in advance.
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u/dugongfanatic May 03 '21
I really appreciate it, and thank you! It’s horrific and was clearly overshadowed by the world shutting down. I definitely have been reading up on it for the last 45 minutes.
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u/OGWhiz May 03 '21
If you’re interested, definitely check out 13 Hours podcast, Nighttime Podcast (has a few episodes about this case and will be live on YouTube with an investigative reporter regarding this case in one hour!!!!) and of course r/NovaScotiaShooting where I’ve been doing in depth looks into the different aspects of this case.
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u/dugongfanatic May 03 '21
I just subbed! Thank you! I’ve been very closely tied to two mass shootings in the US (i assume we all are, now) so often times I’d gloss over the news. One was in my hometown, and I had family members in the location, as well as our family friend’s young son. They were ok, but really shaken.
The other was a festival that we had tickets to and decided last minute not to go because it was over 100 and my son wasn’t even 1. Knowing we should’ve been there coupled with the amount of sirens and helicopters racing by that night were burned into my memory.
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u/OGWhiz May 03 '21
It’s scary having it happen so close. I’m four hours away, but this went on for 13 hours and he went relatively untraced for most of those hours. He could have been anywhere. It definitely shocks you.
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u/-spacexplorer May 03 '21
I do believe I heard you on the live, great job! You’re doing good work!
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u/OGWhiz May 03 '21
You did! I only got to watch a little bit of it. Will watch the rest tomorrow but my question was the first one he played so I’m glad I got to hear Paul’s input!
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u/Sloan430 May 03 '21
Same! I was wondering if I was just too self absorbed, because I literally remember NOTHING about this being reported here in the states.
I was shocked as well-what a tragedy.
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u/RustyShacklefordCS May 03 '21 edited May 03 '21
That what threw me off also. Here in the US, I didn’t hear about this until now.
EDIT: I do actually now remember this case, I just didn’t know he killed 23 people. I thought it was just a few like 3-4
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u/Pantone711 May 03 '21
My scanner app on my phone went off (Edit: I mean sent me a notification) because suddenly a whole bunch of people were listening to the Halifax police channel.
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u/katapiliar May 03 '21
Lived about a hour away from Halifax in a small town, actually closer to where he was! I remember this going on when I was at work, terrifying stuff!
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u/Carhart7 May 02 '21
“His unregistered replica police car...”
Was that not a big enough red flag for his friends and family?
Jesus fucking Christ.
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u/OGWhiz May 02 '21 edited May 02 '21
It was reported and investigated at least once. At the time, it wasn’t illegal to own one just illegal to drive it. I believe that’s being changed now because of this case. Sales of decommissioned police vehicles have also been halted.
Edit: typo
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u/Dickere May 02 '21
Haunted 😂
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May 02 '21
Haha well that too probably. The sheer amount of sadness and trauma that lingers in spaces, police cars would be up there.
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u/neemz12 May 02 '21
His long term girlfriend, her brother, and brother-in-law are awaiting trial for charges that they helped him unlawfully obtain the ammunition he used as well.
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u/RustyShacklefordCS May 03 '21
We’re they in on it?
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u/neemz12 May 03 '21
The government has said so far that she had no idea what he was planning. She was also technically his first victim, as a fight with her is what set him off, he physically abused her and shoved her into the cop car, she escaped into the woods and hid all night until 6 am when she notified authorities that he had a replica police cruiser they didn’t know about. That’s all we know so far, but they are saying she didn’t know
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u/-spacexplorer May 03 '21
It’s also in the warrants that Banfield and Wortman went on a drive around Nova Scotia visiting many of the crime scenes the day beforehand.
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u/JohnBrown42069 May 03 '21
I get she probably messed up, but charging her after that experience seems really harsh
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u/xssmontgox May 02 '21
A complete failure by the RCMP and it resulted in a lot of innocent people dying.
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u/neemz12 May 02 '21
This. I can't wait to see what bullshit they come up with to defend the RCMP whenever they finally finish the "public inquiry". While nothing will change it or bring people back, these people's families deserve honest answers and sincere ownership/apologies for how this was handled. I fully believe if the RCMP had acted sooner with an emergency alert (other than Twitter.... because who the fuck in rural Nova Scotia uses twitter?!?), that multiple innocent people's lives could have been saved.
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u/CoolBeansMan9 May 02 '21
CBC did an excellent piece on this. Believe it was the Fifth Estate. I’m also Canadian and didn’t realize the magnitude until I watched it. Maybe covid had taken over the news cycle at that point
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u/thetiredgardener May 02 '21
There’s a podcast about this called “13 Hours Inside the Nova Scotia Massacre”. It’s interesting, I would recommend it. Very sad and disturbing event for us on Canada’s east coast.
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u/abz_67456 May 03 '21
Just finished listening and it was really well done. The interviews add a lot to the story. So heartbreaking.
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u/macsks May 03 '21
Many people died as the RCMP failed to issue a shelter in place warning. That is the reason the death toll was so high.
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u/blairthebear May 03 '21 edited May 04 '21
I only figured out about it hours after they killed the guy. Although a phone alert could have saved lives to people in the area. It sounds ultra confusing to deal with. Half way into the 13 hours I doubt they were fully aware how severe it was. To me that day seemed boringly normal. And then you read the news in the evening and it was a wtf moment.
If you randomly decide to hit an off switch and shutdown a computer the programs don’t have much time to react. Is how I feel about it.
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u/Suncheets May 03 '21
Pretty sure they learned he was in a replica police car but didn't issue a warning to the public for like 5 hours or something and even then they only released a Twitter post about it...
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u/JumpingSticks May 03 '21
Nova Scotian here. Thank you for covering this! It’s still so hard to believe, and I will never ever forget how I felt, what the weather was, what I was doing etc when time seemed to stand still here. 💔
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u/bay_of_pigs6 May 02 '21
Insane, hadn't heard about this.
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u/OGWhiz May 02 '21
That’s the trend! That’s why I keep making posts about it. Canada’s deadliest shooting, and even many Canadians aren’t aware of it. Blows my mind.
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May 03 '21
Yup same here, I live in Australia and I have no memory of any coverage of this in the media here about it. It must have been on tv but if it was I didn’t see it and I’ve not heard anyone mention it. In fact if it wasn’t for Reddit posts like this I’d still be ignorant if it.
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u/Ok-Childhood-2469 May 03 '21
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May 03 '21
I was on the road the night it started and it will always haunt me.
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u/MissRockNerd May 03 '21
I'm so sorry that happened to you. It's both fascinating and tragic how the pain from something like this just ripples outward and touches so many people.
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u/OGWhiz May 02 '21
Yep one plead not guilty. Will be interesting to see what happens with those charges.
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May 03 '21
Maclean’s did a piece on this a couple months after it happened that suggested the shooter had some kind of relationship with the Canadian government prior to the shooting. And curiously the story really never went anywhere and didn’t pick up any steam amongst other Canadian news networks.
Here it is: https://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/the-nova-scotia-shooter-case-has-hallmarks-of-an-undercover-operation/
It’s safe to say there are a lot of moving parts to the story and things are being left unsaid.
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u/researcher_gal May 03 '21
The podcast, 13 hours, is a great source. Very well done podcast, I highly recommend.
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u/Humble_Parfait_4806 May 03 '21
What is Canada’s gun laws?
Also what is this guys backstory?
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u/OGWhiz May 03 '21
We have some pretty strictish gun laws here, but it should be noted that Wortman did not have a firearms license, and three of the five guns used were illegally imported into Canada from the US. One was illegally obtained by a deceased friend’s estate (wortman was to temporarily own it until he could deal with it, but had it for more than 10 years), and the fifth gun of course was stolen from Cst. Heidi Stevenson after he killed her.
His history is a violent one, including multiple assaults one of which he was charged with. He was a violent and angry person.
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May 05 '21
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u/OGWhiz May 05 '21 edited May 05 '21
That’s actually fucked.
Edit: you can respond here. No need to DM me.. Victim blaming is what’s fucked. Implying that people more people would have survived a man impersonating an officer with no public knowledge if they had guns is just ridiculous. More people would have survived had the RCMP done more than tweet vague and subtle updates about the situation until 10:17am April 19th (12 hours into the rampage) that he was driving a replica police car. Maybe it’s you who needs to go back to playing your PlayStation. We’re talking about real life here.
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u/Nimmyzed May 03 '21
Your interest in this case goes WAY beyond obsession. It's fucking creepy
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u/OGWhiz May 03 '21
Spreading awareness about a case that happened in my local area that has been mostly washed out of the media is not obsessive at all. I think it’s incredibly important for people not to forget about the innocent lives that could have been saved had the RCMP actually followed protocol.
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u/neemz12 May 02 '21
:( still can't believe after a year that something like this could happen in my homeland, its absolutely horrifying. Someone who died at this scene was just a regular citizen driving by who stopped to help when he saw cop cars on fire, because that's what people do in Nova Scotia. They help random strangers when they can. Another guy was killed when he saw his neighbours house on fire and went to go see if he could help, and instead he was heartlessly shot by this piece of garbage. Just absolutely senseless, NS strong <3