Front Burner - Nova Scotia grieves after shooting rampage

Episode Date: April 21, 2020

There are still so many unanswered questions about what happened in Nova Scotia this past weekend. What we do know is that a lone gunman went on a 12-hour shooting rampage across the province. He set fire to five structures, impersonated a police officer and left at least 18 victims dead. Today, CBC News reporter Brett Ruskin joins us from Portapique, N.S., to report on one of the deadliest mass shootings in Canadian history.

In the Dragon's Den, a simple pitch can lead to a life-changing connection. Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. This is a CBC Podcast. Okay, so your contribution to the COVID kitchen party. Herbie McLeod. Wicked.

All right. So that was Emily Tuck, a 17-year-old from Portapique, Nova Scotia, playing an East Coast waltz to pass the time during social isolation. There's some fiddle for you. Emily and her parents, Aaron Tuck and Jolene Oliver, were killed over the weekend when a lone gunman

went on a 12-hour shooting rampage across the province, setting fire to five structures, impersonating a police officer, and leaving at least 18 victims dead. There's the incredible scope of the loss. The brutality of what happened and when. People like to sleep with their windows open and the doors unlocked in many parts of

Nova Scotia. Some people questioning that now. There are still so many questions about what happened here. CBC News reporter Brett Reskin is in Portapique. He joins me to explain what we know so far about the deadliest mass shooting in Canadian history. I'm Jamie Poisson and this is Frontburner. Hi Brett, thank you so much for making the time to speak with me today. I know this is such a busy and really hard day for you. Hi Jamie, no, thanks for taking the time to speak with me today. I know this is such a busy and really hard day for you. Hi, Jamie. No, thanks for taking the time as well. I want to start today by talking about some of the victims, remembering some of the people who so tragically lost their lives here.

We heard at the top of the show, the fiddling of 17-year-old Emily Tuck. And can you tell me a little bit about her and her family? I understand that on Monday, you essentially ran into a family friend. Yeah. So this happened at the police checkpoints here in Portapique, where this entire shooting first began. And so I was just doing my reports for TV and for radio, and somebody pulled up, hopped out of their car, walked over to a tree, and she had and taping this image of the family to this tree and laid some flowers at the base of the tree as well. So I spoke with her briefly, and she just said, you know, she knew the family. She was close with the family and just wanted to do, you know, something to honor their memory now that they've been killed in this mass killing. Right. It's so hard to imagine right now what the families of the victims

and also the community, which is so tight-knit, is going through right now. So my sister and Aaron raised an amazing child. She was so nice, so kind, humble. She's very humble. She wasn't sure if she wanted to do welding or music for school. Can we talk about some of the other victims here? So tell me about Heidi Stevenson, for example, the RCMP constable, 23-year member of the force. Yeah, so she, as you said, a veteran of the force. She was a mother of two. She was married. And she was, at one point, actually the media representative

and spoke with the media earlier on in her career. Certainly asked for the public's assistance if they saw anybody or anything that was a little unusual or out of the ordinary as well. And so she was well known and well liked. I hadn't really thought about the fact that she could have been injured or killed during the right of duty. I thought it was really cool that she was helping make the city stay safe. She kind of acted sometimes like a second mother to me when I was at swim meets, and she would always be there for me, and she was just a really helping hand all the time. Unfortunately,

the only time that I had direct contact with her was when she was dead, because I came across a scene in Shubinakini, Nova Scotia. So there's a number of different communities. In fact, there's at least 16 crime scenes that RCMP are going to be having to comb through. And so I was at one yesterday. And that was Sunday, right? So that was Sunday. So the day of the manhunt. And so in Shubenackie, Nova Scotia, there is kind of an overpass. And one of the many interactions that this shooter had with police or with the public happened there. And keep in mind that we have heard that he was driving a vehicle that looked almost identical to an RCMP cruiser.

He was allegedly wearing clothing that was almost identical to an RCMP cruiser. He was allegedly wearing clothing that was almost identical to an RCMP uniform. We did not realize that was him until we saw four police cars behind him. He looked like he was okay, to be honest. Like, he didn't look like he was in any type of rush. And so what people saw, and the witnesses that I spoke with, this one gentleman who lives just above this overpass, he basically saw what seemed like two police cars. One of them cut the other one off. There was a minor collision. And then the officers got out and began opening fire at one another. Wow.

So I can't even imagine what that would have looked like. I knew something bad had really happened. I heard two shots as we come up and we're turning to get to safety. And this police officer is running towards the burning police car. My heart just went drop to my stomach because I'm thinking, something's wrong with his partner. And the way he looked,

I could, like, I just, my heart went out to him, but I knew we had to get to safety. Constable Stevenson was killed in this shootout. The witness that I spoke with said that what he called a SWAT team or the emergency response team showed up in their armored vehicle and began dragging her away from what had then become two vehicles on fire. Oh, my God. That's a real car.

Oh, my God. Because one of the recurring themes in this tragedy is just the amount of fire, the amount of vehicles that were burned, the amount of houses that were burned, and allegedly lit on fire by the shooter and the suspect in this case. Mike McKay lives in Portapique. I noticed police cars and then we noticed the house fire. And then there were two more fires after that, some explosions, you know, gas tanks or propane tanks and what have you. And with no firefighters, you know, to be seen because of the other, you know, activity that we were unaware of at the time. And so when I showed up on scene, I could see the burnt out wreckage from these two vehicles.

And from the perspective that I had from this gentleman's lawn, the witness that I spoke with overlooking, again, this interchange, I could see Constable Stevenson's body. What I then found out, what I later found out was Constable Stevenson's body underneath a sheet. I could see her boots and she was there as part of this scene. It just sounds like an awful, awful scene. You know, before we move on, I want to talk to you about the RCMP car and the uniform that this man was allegedly wearing. But first, I want to just spend a little bit more time remembering some of the people who lost their lives. Lisa McCulley, an elementary school teacher, a mother of two.

Here's a little goodnight song to all our friends and family. We miss you. From the McCullies. I know, I know you belong to somebody new. Of course, Heidi Stevenson, the RCMP constable, was also a mother of two young children. Kristen Beaton, a continuing care assistant with the Victorian Order of Nurses. Heather O'Brien, also a nurse with Victorian Order of Nurses. And, you know, I actually spoke with her aunt, Shelley Gass.

She was the aunt of Heather O'Brien. Well, yesterday I was kind of in shock, but today there I cried mostly all morning, but not much I can do. Can you tell me about your niece, Heather? What was she like? She was a very special person. She helped everybody out that was in need, and she was a VON nurse. She was a nurse, and so was she working right now? Yes, she was. She was on her

way to work and she stopped for a coffee and that's when he shot her in the car. That's what you know about what happened to her? Yeah. Had you been speaking to her in recent days and weeks? I talked to her a while ago and I was in sort of a depression and her and her husband wanted to come and get me and take me down for a few days and bring me back. And I said, no, no, I'll be okay now. I'm sorry that I didn't go. She sounds like a very kind and generous person. Oh, yes, she was. She was a good mother and good wife and good to her siblings. And she was always there for everybody in need. I read that she messaged her family on their group chat just before she was killed. Were you on the group chat? Yes, apparently she did, yes. I wonder if you have any favorite stories or memories about Heather? Well, I do, because I lived in Masstown at one

time, and they lived just up the road from me, and the kids were always at my place. And there was a man there that used to work in the body shop with my ex-husband. And she was, oh, I don't know, maybe 12 years old. And like, he was quite a bit older than her. And she kept saying to me, she said, I'm going to marry him someday. And I said, no, Heather, you can't do that. He's too old for you. Yes, I'm going to. And she did. Oh, really? That's who she ended up marrying? Yeah. How long were they married for? Oh, probably, I don't to, and she did. Oh, really? That's who she ended up marrying? Yeah. How long were they married for?

Oh, probably, I don't know, 20 years. And have you been able to talk to her husband? No, I've been trying to get through, but I can't get through. So I text the sister and she said she'll call me in a bit, so I'll get more information then. I wanted to go so bad yesterday, and they were going to let me go through the border and come back, but then I had to quarantine for two weeks, but then I can't afford to lose two weeks' pay because I live by myself. Right, and just to be clear, you're in New Brunswick right now. Yeah.

Do you have anything that you want to say to Heather's family or her community right now, Shelly? Well, I'm very sorry that this tragedy happened, and I just don't know how they're going to deal with it. Okay. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me. We're so sorry for your loss, and I do hope... I know, it's terrible. Like, if it had been a car accident, you know what I mean? Like, you could kind of, you know, think, well, it was a car accident,

but being murdered cold blood, that's a different story. Right. It's hard for you to come to terms with? Oh, my God, yes. Yeah. Because I was really close with her mother and with all the kids and everything, like. Okay, Shelly, thank you so much for this. Okay, thank you very much. Shelley, thank you so much for this.

Okay, thank you very much. It's just unimaginable to think that all of these families are grieving so much right now in such a difficult time. Brett, we mentioned before that this is a very close-knit community, but could you tell me a little bit more about Portapique for people who might not be familiar with it? Sure. It's, um, community is right in the social sense, but perhaps not in the geographic sense. It's kind of just a neighbourhood. It's a few dozen homes. It's secluded and beautiful on the water, um, off the beaten path from, you know, Nova Scotia's main highways. And the people that live there, the people that we've been able to speak with, say that it's just a quiet, tight-knit community. I never thought that that would happen in this

our community because it's, you know, a group community. Everybody shares everybody's concerns. Okay. And so take me back then to Saturday night so that I can try to understand how this all began to unfold. Yeah. So this began with, according to the RCMP, with a series of phone calls, 2-9-1-1, saying there was some kind of an incident happening involving a gun, perhaps gunshots. Police responded to the residents that these callers were describing and they found casualties inside the home, multiple casualties outside the home as well. These people found their neighbor face down in his yard Sunday morning in Wentworth.

I had to go over and look at him and tell them and verify that, you know, there was no signs of life. It was very hard. Especially when it's somebody you know. It's your friend, you know. It's hard. They continued their investigation, led them to a couple of different properties. In the area, there were at least three fires that had been set in the community as well. So when officers continued their investigation to try to visit these other properties, they found them completely ablaze. So that was at 11.30 midnight on Saturday into early Sunday morning. And I understand that one of the reasons why the police now think that the death toll could rise is because they believe that there's possibly bodies in some of these houses.

That's right. Some people might be wondering, how is the death toll increasing when the shooting has stopped? And it's because police simply weren't able to get into some of the sites. We've been unable to fully examine the crime scenes because, for instance, we have five structure fires, most of those being residences, and we believe there may be victims still within the remains of those. Or they weren't aware of all of the sites. remains of those. Or they weren't aware of all of the sites. Some of these buildings were still too hot to get into, too smoldering to get into, to effectively clear them and search them for bodies. And so it's just, there's so much that is traumatic about this case. Just the amount of physical destruction and human destruction that has resulted from this is really unprecedented here in Nova Scotia and will likely be in Canada as well as it could possibly be the worst mass shooting in Canadian history. And the reason why it's only possible, how we don't know yet,

we're not sure how all of these victims died, if they died by a shooting or by another means, another cause. So that's why there's still a bit of semantics, but that is what the RCMP is telling us. Okay. And then what do we know about what happened after Saturday night, right? You mentioned there were the first shootings, the fires, these calls. And then, you know, around 8 a.m. on Sunday, the police were warning the community that there was an active shooter.

And Blair Sanderson's with us as well, wishing he was in here smelling the fried onions. Hello, Blair. Yeah, RCMP in Colchester County, Nova Scotia, say someone is in the community with a firearm and they're asking people to take measures to stay safe. As you mentioned, there are 16 different crime scenes and I know not all of them are in Portapique. Yeah, so very quickly things expanded geographically. So we were tracking this on everyone was watching the RCMP Twitter feed because the updates were coming via Twitter.

And actually they just put out a tweet about seven minutes ago saying that this is an active shooter situation. And those updates were showing kind of a community where he was spotted in, a community where we had seen shootings, another community down the way. So places like Wentworth, Nova Scotia, places like Glenholm, DeBert, Nova Scotia, Shubinacki, Nova Scotia that I mentioned before. These are all places that are, again, small towns, small communities. You could pick them up from Nova Scotia and drop them anywhere else in Canada, and they would fit right in. There's towns like these across the country.

And so one of the ways that the shooter and the suspect in this case was able to get around so quickly and so effectively and possibly one of the reasons why this manhunt lasted so long, lasted 12 hours or so, was because he was in what looked like an RCMP vehicle. He was in what looked like RCMP uniforms. So if you see a police car speeding down the road, you're not going to think twice. You're going to think that they're heading towards a crime. That is a normal thing that we see. And so that is something that this is according to RCMP, he said that the fact that he looked like an RCMP officer on the road facilitated his ability to move around so quickly. And I know talking with Shelley Gass,

the aunt of Heather O'Brien, you know, there were other stops, like Heather O'Brien was apparently just on her way to work and she was getting a coffee. I mean, police are describing a shift that happened from what seems to be a fairly targeted shooting pattern of people that were known to the suspect to what then became just random assaults and attacks and killings on random people, just carrying out everyday business. I'm sorry, due to privacy reasons, I'm not able to discuss the relationship with the victims other than to say there were some that appeared not to have a relationship with the assailant, the shooter. In the Dragon's Den, a simple pitch can lead to a life-changing connection. Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization. Empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. Okay, so tell me how this all came to an end. You know, you mentioned

there was the shootout with Constable Stevenson, but I understand that it kept going even after that. Yeah, so that shootout with Constable Stevenson was actually the spot where he actually swapped vehicles. He continued on to Enfield, Nova Scotia, which was another good drive away, heading towards the airport, heading towards the largest city in the province, which is Halifax and Dartmouth, that area. And he stopped at a large gas station there. This video appears to capture the dramatic final confrontation between police and the gunman. They got him on lockdown. They're going for him right now.

They got the killer right here. Oh, they got him, but they shot him. I heard the four shots. That is where police took him down. We heard initially that he was taken into custody. That's what police told us, what they tweeted. We later confirmed that he was killed at that time. And police are not revealing many details about the circumstances of the suspect's death because it is now before the serious incident response team,

which investigates any cases of police injuring or killing any members of the public. Okay. And so, of course, this ends about 92 kilometers south of Portapique, as you mentioned, close to Halifax, en route to Halifax. You know, I want to home in a little bit more on one of the more upsetting details of this story that you've mentioned a few times already, that the deceased, that the suspect, a man named Gabriel Wartman, the RCMP say he was in what resembled a police vehicle and then, of course, a police uniform. And, you know, as you mentioned, they're saying this is this disguise essentially helped him move around undetected. And do we know any more about how he got this

vehicle, how he got this uniform? We don't know the exact details of that, but we do know from people that knew him, you know, professionally, that he likes to brag and kind of had a penchant for collecting old or used or, in this case, fairly new looking police vehicles. And in fact, he bragged that he had one that had all the decals on it still. And we don't know exactly how he acquired this vehicle. There's still lots of questions around that. Our same people were asked about that today at the news conference. They didn't provide many details. It was made to look identical to one,

and we will trace back every part of that vehicle to find out how that happened. Because, I mean, if someone can get their hands on all of the tools to look like a police officer, they suddenly have a power shift because generally we trust police officers and we do what police normally tell us because, you know, that's the social agreement that we have. They're law enforcement. And so it was that, not persona, but it was that appearance that he put on that offered him more power and resulted in more destruction. Right. I know the police are saying they're not sure if the uniform is real or not. And I believe they're also saying that the car wasn't real. What do we know about that?

Well, they were saying it wasn't real. And there's some distinction there as to whether or not it's a Ford Taurus or a Ford Interceptor, the Interceptor being the upgraded version that has all the kind of heavy-duty gear and equipment that police officers would need. police officers would need. If you haven't seen the pictures, it looks identical to an RCMP cruiser in every possible way. In fact, the only detail that could have differentiated it was its specific call sign number in kind of the rear three quarters of the vehicle. And so police were saying, watch out for this vehicle that looks like one of our vehicles, except it has this specific code. And so the question, yes, is whether it was, you know, a really good fake or if he had purchased it somehow. We still don't know.

That's just one of the many questions that we don't have answers for. Right. And tons of questions still swirling around this. You and I are speaking late Monday afternoon, and we still have no sense of, you know, what possible kind of motive there could be in this case. I can't really wrap my head around it, so I'm waiting. Cheryl Tilden was one of his patients at his Dartmouth clinic, where she says his wife also worked. He treated me like family.

Honestly, if he would have showed up at my door without knowing any of this, I would have just invited him in. Loretta Parley went to high school with a Gabriel Wartman. He spoke in his high school biography about wanting to be an RCMP. No, we don't. We have no idea. I mean, we may never know, but speaking personally, hopefully for, for all of these victims, all of these victims' families, it would be nice to know why all of this happened. That's a question that I've been hearing in the, in the communities that I've been visiting. Nobody knows why this happened. It's just adds to this, this empty hole, this, this senseless, as the Premier of Nova Scotia called it. This is one of the most senseless acts of violence in our province's history.

Words cannot or console the families affected by what has transpired over the last 24 hours. Nobody knows why it happened. Right. And, you know, we obviously can't forget, too, that, you know, talking about the victims and talking about their families right now, this is all happening people to grieve. You know, the story that you told at the top of this conversation, the young woman who is taping pictures to, like, signposts, like, I imagine she, you know, she can't go and visit the family and see how they're doing and, you know, give them a hug. And so what are you hearing about how that's affecting the community right now? Well, we're hearing about a variety of different vigils that are planned,

and they might end up being virtual vigils. So on Facebook Live, for example, that might be the best we can do in this current time that we're in. Lots of people who we've heard from are, you know, just looking for a hug in this situation because people are grieving and they want to go through the conventional ways that people deal with loss and that's being close with the ones you love. And that might not happen, at least to the fullest extent that it ordinarily and typically would. We've seen crowdfunding campaigns for burials, not for funerals, for burials, because there won't be funerals happening anytime soon, gatherings of large

groups of people. And so it is just an extra layer of sadness on top of the grief. I brought the flowers here for my niece, Jamie Blair, and her husband, Greg. And the little boys said they survived it. You said you were surprised that there's not more flowers. Yeah, but there will be. Brett Ruskin, thank you so much for this. We're going to keep in touch with you over the coming days and weeks. Thank you. So, as Brett was just saying, traditional vigils are really difficult, if not impossible, to hold right now. Physical distancing guidelines put in place due to the coronavirus outbreak mean we can't gather close like we might want to. But last night, many Nova Scotians found a different way to pay their respects and mourn the dead.

They went out on their porches, their lawns, or even just to their windows, and they lit a candle. That's all for today. I'm Jamie Poisson. Thanks so much for listening to FrontBurner, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.