Front Burner - The chaotic search for the Nova Scotia mass shooter

Episode Date: April 15, 2022

Nearly two years ago, denturist Gabriel Wortman, in a fake police cruiser and uniform, terrorized rural Nova Scotia and killed 22 people. Looking for answers, a public inquiry is now connecting the dots between how the killer evaded RCMP and the chaotic situation officers faced on the ground. For weeks, the Mass Casualty Commission has shared its findings, revealed critical documents, and gathered public testimony from witnesses. Today on Front Burner we hear RCMP testimony about how officers constantly felt a step behind the gunman – and how they eventually ended the rampage. CBC Nova Scotia reporter Elizabeth McMillan joins us to explain what happened on April 18 and 19, 2020 and what's still to come from the commission. (This episode originally played a clip that was misattributed. We've corrected the error.)

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. Hi, I'm Jamie Poisson. Hi, I'm Jamie Poisson. I remember feeling a little defeated that he had found two more victims when it seemed like we were seconds behind him.

Constable Craig Hughbley is one of the officers who recognized and shot a rampaging gunman at a gas station in Nova Scotia. But before that, he and Constable Ben McLeod raced through a trail of violence and destruction to catch up with the shooter. How fast are you going, Constable Hughley? As fast as that truck would go. Yeah. 180? Constables McLeod and Hugh Blee are just two of the officers

who've been speaking at the Mass Casualty Commission, a public inquiry into what happened on April 18th and 19th of 2020. That's when Gabriel Wartman killed 22 people in Nova Scotia, many while wearing an RCMP uniform and driving a replica RCMP car. The inquiry has been going on for about seven weeks now and was sparked by family members who were demanding accountability. A mix of documents, 911 logs and interviews have helped us piece together what happened that weekend. We're hearing numerous gunshots.

Pat, be very careful bringing your car down here to avoid ambush. But the most direct line we have into how police see what happened has been through officer testimonies. I've described it in my third statement as a war zone. Burning houses, those bodies in the street, still hearing explosions, not knowing at the time if they were explosions or gunshots. These stories paint a portrait of a force a step behind the mayhem. To take us through what we've learned at the commission so far,

we're joined by CBC Nova Scotia reporter Elizabeth McMillan. Hey, Elizabeth, it's really good to have you back. Thanks for having me. So one of the things that makes this commission so important is that it's the first time we're actually able to hear officers tell us in their own words what what they saw that weekend but I understand at first there was pushback from police lawyers about whether the police should even have to testify here they said it would be too traumatic and can you tell me quickly about that claim and maybe how it was received. Sure. So in the early days of the inquiry, the union that represents RCMP officers argued that many of the frontline officers had already given lengthy statements, both to the RCMP and the public inquiry itself, and that

forcing them to testify publicly would take a toll on their mental health. They said that, you know, they'd already given these lengthy statements and the information was out there. Lawyers for families of people killed objected. They said that, you know, police officers frequently testify at difficult murder trials, sexual assault trials. They said it is part of the job. And they also argued that they needed to get clarity about details. They wanted to ask follow-up questions, and they wanted to get that firsthand perspective that wasn't possible from transcripts alone. Ultimately, the three commissioners overseeing the public inquiry decided that some officers

will be called. So far, five have testified. And they're going to keep deciding on a case-by-case basis. And some of the more senior officers are expected to be called as witnesses in May. And I must say, as a reporter covering the inquiry, it has been very powerful hearing the firsthand perspective from these officers. And that just doesn't get translated from a transcript alone. Yeah, absolutely. And I would imagine perhaps one of the most harrowing examples of that is the testimony that you heard on Thursday, just a few hours before we're recording this, from the two officers who shot and killed Gabriel Wartman that day, the shooter. And we're going to talk later in the show about that moment. But first,

I wonder if you could tell me what they told the inquiry about how the weekend unfolded for them, because McLeod, one of the officers, actually gets called into Portapique at night to respond to the shooting. And how does his night begin? The first few hours we were on scene were chaotic, as we described before. So Constable Ben McLeod, he's a member of Nova Scotia's RCMP's emergency response team, so their tactical unit. So they were called not long after the first officers arrived on the scene but they had to mobilize, they had to travel there. So they arrived sometime after midnight and got into place and McLeod echoed what other officers have said that it was like a war zone.

Burning houses, those bodies in the street, still hearing explosions, not knowing at the time if there were explosions or gunshots, but believed them to be explosions. So there was a lot going on. The tactical team, they helped respond to potential sightings of the gunman. They cleared some properties where people saw some unusual movement or lights. They searched the gunman's property as well as one of his burning vehicles. Of course, remember, there were several burning buildings in the area, and police were trying to get a handle on what was happening as well as what vehicles were there and what may have been destroyed. And that team, that tactical team, ran into some challenges.

They were working in a really dark subdivision. They didn't have a clear way to determine each other's locations. They didn't have an electronic way to, say, map where each other were. There was no helicopter available overnight. The RCMP's helicopter that could have come from Moncton was down for maintenance. So they didn't have eyes in the sky, so to speak, and they were on guard for a potential potential ambush fearing that perhaps the gunman was still there lurking in the woods so mcleod was busy doing that and he had some medical training so he was checking bodies for vital signs and whatnot because they did find bodies on the ground there

we've all struggled we uh we saw a lot that night and every one of us just wanted to find him. Tell me a little bit about what you heard from the other officer who testified Thursday, Hubley. I know he was brought in the morning after the rampage around 8 a.m. And what did he say on the stand when he was testifying? What did he say on the stand when he was testifying? Yeah, so he's a police dog handler. And he was called in that morning. He arrived on scene around 8 a.m.

At that point, he went to the command post where the RCMP had set up. They had maps and pictures of the suspect taped to the wall. So he went there. The pictures I saw were, I think one of them, he was smiling. He looked happy. And I was pretty sure that wasn't what was happening that day. But I remember trying to burn them into my mind's eye. I wanted to know who we were looking for. And then he also went into Portapique and he was there when officers were trying to deal with a little dog they'd found. The dog belonged to Jamie and Greg Blair, their family. That couple, they were the first people shot that night and killed.

Jamie Blair was on the phone when she was killed. Her two young boys were hiding from the gunman. They ran to a neighbor's house. They spent about two hours there hiding with two of their friends in the basement. And they knew their dog was shot and seriously injured. And the RCMP officers who found the dog at the Blair's home the following morning decided, well, these kids have lost so much. This dog has to live. And they asked Constable Hubely to help. That dog's injuries were beyond my abilities. My concern was to get him to somewhere or someplace

that the dog could get the care that they needed. So eventually, officers were able to get the dog to a vet, but it really hit home for him the extent of the gunman's rage. What struck me at the time was that he, the perpetrator, had shot a family pet that was 20 pounds maybe. The dog was not a threat to anybody. What struck me was just how intent he was on causing harm, I guess, that he would shoot a dog. I've been to other murder scenes, crimes of passion, but never where somebody would vent rage like that.

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together. To listen to this podcast, just search for Money for Cops. You mentioned earlier that five officers in total have testified so far. The other three who testified earlier in the inquiry, tell me a little bit about what they said on the stand that really stood out to you. So they were, there were three officers who were on the ground within that subdivision for the first 90 minutes. And initially we heard some of their police radio communication. Okay, lots of gunshots in here, three gunshots, two more gunshots.

And we heard as they were trying to radio back what they were seeing and hearing, and it was clear how chaotic and confusing it was. They were hearing, they weren't sure if there were explosions or if it was gunfire. They went in on foot. They were checking Google Maps on their phones to try to figure out where they were in relation to specific addresses. And their training was to go after the threat. So they're hearing these gunshots. They go in that direction.

They come upon a burning building. And one of the challenges that they said was that, you know, in the woods it was pitch black. But then there were these burning structures. And they said it was like daylight. So they felt so exposed being near that fire because they were concerned. Like I mentioned about an ambush, that the gunman could be lurking, that he might be able to see them if they were close to the fire. And they discovered bodies. They also went to the home where the four children were hiding and they checked in on the kids

and those kids stayed on the line with the 911 dispatcher but the three officers were not able to stay with the kids though because their priority was trying to stop the threat so they said over the course of you know the 90 minutes they were racing around, they literally ran about 10 kilometers and they're wearing their heavy gear. Wow. So they were, you know, they were certainly exhausted by the end of their shift. And they had also this close call at one point where they thought they saw the gunman. They saw this flashlight. It was coming towards them out of the darkness.

So they were on the front lawn where these kids were hiding. And they got into their prone positions, ready to fire, and they were focused on this flashlight, and they radioed back to their colleagues, just making sure that it wasn't another officer. Is anybody else in here with us? If there's anybody else in here with us, identify yourself right fucking now. And then the flashlight kind of wavered and disappeared.

And they worried that they missed their chance. And then it was the gunman retreating into the woods. And then it was much later that they learned that that flashlight wasn't the gunman at all. It was the man, Clinton Ellison, who'd found his brother's body and then became frightened. And he thought that the gunman was chasing him, and that's why he went into the woods. And McLeod was part of the team that extracted him much later after he was on the line with 911.

And, you know, he was so terrified at that point, and it was challenging to kind of locate him. But that was one of the tasks for the early morning hours. Oh, my God, these are unbelievable details, Elizabeth. You know, I'm not sure what I necessarily would expect to happen in this kind of environment. But when you mentioned that these officers were checking their phones and looking at Google Maps, I was taken aback when you said that. And I wonder, did these officers talk about how things could have been done differently in this 90-minute window? You mentioned some issues earlier that they had.

Lawyers for some of the families did have questions about the equipment and the resources that they had. And one of the things, for instance, that they were asked about was night vision goggles. So the general duty members that were on duty did not have night vision goggles. Some of them said that it would have been helpful. And the other issue was the fear of the blue on blue situation, the possibility of firing at other officers because they didn't know their location. So it was clear from listening to the radio communications that that was one of the concerns of the people in charge, as well as the people on the ground.

I only want one team in there if we can avoid having anybody else in the crossfire. And, you know, they were worried about that. And it seemed to factor into the decision not to send a second team in for quite a while. And Const stuart basalt who was the first officer on the scene he said he didn't actually realize that his portable police radio was equipped with gps until he was speaking with the commission much later after the fact so it wasn't something that was routinely used to locate members. You know, they would be, they were relying on the radios to kind of relay information verbally, but it doesn't seem that the GPS was being tracked and mapped anywhere.

Also, one of the most chilling details is that the shooter was driving around in a police car, right? And what did the officers first on scene say about what they were told and how they interpreted that at the time. 355, there we go. I don't know if we have any description of the vehicle yet or not, but we got nothing for the vehicle, but where the complainant said something to do with an RCMP car in the yard. When the call first came in from Jamie Blair, she mentioned a police cruiser being in her yard. And when Constable Baselt, the first officer on scene came, he encountered a man who was shot, suffered a gunshot wound, been shot at while he was in his

car with his wife. And he described, he identified the gunman by name, by first name, knew it was his neighbor and said he was driving a police car. And they had a really quick exchange before Constable Bissell went in on foot. And he told the inquiry that he didn't fully appreciate or understand the level of detail that that car had. We got a number of updates that it looked like a police car, looked like a police car. Well, that means a lot of different things to different people, right? So, you know, we're open to the possibility of anything at that point in time,

but were we specifically thinking that he had a mocked up police car that was in every way exactly like a police car? No. So the issue was, is that RCMP got information that it was a police car. They had different people describing this as a police car. They knew that the gunmen owned decommissioned cars, and it sounds like they hadn't been able to imagine that this was possible. My wife showed it to me on Facebook the next day, and I was like, oh, that's what it must have looked like

before they decommissioned it. And she's like, no, that's what it looks like now. And I was shocked at the level of so are you saying that the next day you had a chance actually to look at the photograph of the replica rcmp vehicle that was involved in this mass casualty yeah and you were shocked and it didn't occur to you that that could have never would have dreamed that it was that interesting detailed okay right okay so so even though they were told multiple times that the shooter was driving a police car it didn't really like click for the

police until they get this photo i understand the photo came from the shooter's spouse right her sister yeah so i guess when she came out of the woods in the morning, they somehow get this photo from her sister, right? And so what do they do once they have the photo? Well, at that point, they were also interviewing Lisa Banfield, the spouse. And she was explaining to the officer who asked her, like, it's a car that looks exactly like what you drove. And at that point, they get the photo. They start sharing it internally among their team. They start sharing it among other police agencies. They kind of send out a be on

the lookout with the information about kind of the fully marked cruiser. But it's still more than two hours before they share that information with the public. So that next morning around dawn, the gunman's on the move again. 911 calls start coming in and that's when police realize shortly after 9 30 in the morning that the situation has gone active again. They have an active shooter again and then things start happening very quickly and the frantic chase begins. And they had the photo of the police cruiser at this point, but they just had not been circulating it publicly. That's right. It would be about another half an hour, 45 minutes until they tweeted the photo

of the cruiser publicly. And in that space of time, Lillian Campbell was killed. The gunman also killed Heather O'Brien and Kristen Beaton, who were co-workers driving in separate vehicles on another rural road. Okay. Elizabeth, one thing I did, I just really want to ask you about is that at one point, the police end up shooting at a local official in Colchester County, right? Like a completely innocent guy standing in front of a police cruiser. And briefly, can you tell me what we've learned at the inquiry about what actually happened there? Yeah, so that happened at this rural fire hall, the Onsla Belmont Fire Brigade. And it had been open that morning. The chief and the deputy chief were called in to provide a

comfort station, a center for people from Portapique to go so they could get connected to resources from the Red Cross. And an official from their emergency management office was there. He was wearing a safety vest. He was helping connect people who were forced out of their homes because of the violence the night before with resources. And the RCMP sent an officer from another county, from Pictou County, in a Mark Cruiser to be stationed there, get information from people from Portapique, but also to provide security. So he's parked on this rural road facing the road. And they were there, you know, from I think it was 8 a.m. onward. And there was a pair of officers who had been looking for the gunman and they'd been in

Portapique. They had interviewed Lisa Banfield. She had said he was wearing an orange vest. Then they heard from one of their colleagues. I saw this suspect. He's wearing the safety vest. So these two officers had been on his trail. So they said in their statements, one of them said to the inquiry, they were just so focused that maybe they could get this guy. And they drive up to this fire hall. And they said at no point in that morning did anyone tell them that there was one of their colleagues stationed there or that it was being used as a comfort center. So they see this cruiser and they see a man standing behind it in a safety vest. see this cruiser and they see a man standing behind it in a safety vest. And the officer who started shooting, two of them started shooting, one of them told the public inquiry, there was

no doubt in his mind that he had the suspect in his sights. Unbeknownst to those two officers, their colleagues sitting in this vehicle, they didn't even notice their colleague, the other Mountie sitting in the vehicle. The man in behind the vehicle in the safety vest, who was his official, helping people affected by the violence, he kind of darted into the building. Inside, there's two firefighters and a man whose son was killed the night before. The man runs in. They're hearing shots. And because the two officers, yeah, they started firing. Yeah. Wow. And the men hid there for about an hour because they thought the actual gunman was there.

They didn't get a lot of information. At one point, like the Mounties quickly realized what was happening. They had some trouble communicating on the radio. The Mountie in the car was trying to call back. He didn't get over the radio right away. The Mounties who were firing, they said they tried to communicate on the radio. And it sounds like the radio traffic was so jammed that some of these transmissions just weren't going through. They were getting bonged out. Two other officers, they do actually come across a real shooter.

These officers are Chad Morrison and then Heidi Stevenson. Who's approaching 224 and 2 there now? That's me. Copy. But Stevenson didn't know it was actually the gunman. He approached Morrison and immediately opened fire. I'm shot! I'm shot! South by number 2!

Morrison was able to race away, but the gunman barreled towards Stevenson on a one-way road and the two collided. Stevenson is killed in a gunfight, tragically, with the shooter. And another man who stopped to see if she was okay,ey weber is also killed by the shooter and the shooter lights his mock police car on fire and he drives away in in joey weber's suv and then he drives to the house of the last woman that he kills gina goulet which brings me to my question for you can you tell me about what the inquiry has learned about basically how close police got to getting this guy at that point? Yeah, they were minutes behind him leaving the scene where the gunman killed Constable Stevenson and Joey Weber. Officers had been

racing there at top speed. They arrived, they were too late. They learned from a witness that the gunman had taken off in a silver SUV. So some of the tactical team that was among the first on the scene, they took off looking for him. And we know they passed the home of Gina Goulet. It wasn't very far away, but the gunman had parked behind her home. She had a long driveway, sat back from the road. He was only there for five minutes. So it's not clear even if he was there when they drove by. And during that time, he killed her, he injured her dog. And when he left, he took her vehicle. So he left the SUV behind,

and he also discarded parts of the uniform that he'd been wearing. So he changed, and he got in a different vehicle. And then he set out again, and our CMP were still looking for a suspect in a silver SUV. Right, right. And then I know he takes Gina's car and he goes to get gas. At this point, he's no longer in the fake RCMP car and has shed his Mountie uniform. The officers miss him entirely. And there's been this really haunting footage, video footage has been released at the inquiry showing that two officers

were actually there when he tries to fill up gas the first time and they don't recognize him. So he leaves that gas station and he tries a second gas station to refuel his car, the Enfield Big Stop. And this brings us back to the beginning of our conversation, the testimony of Craig Hubley and Ben McLeod, those first two officers that we talked about. These guys are the ones that end up shooting the shooter. And so what did they say about what happened? Yes, they had been chasing him down too. They had been kind of going as fast as the truck that they were in, the Suburban they were in, could go.

They kind of followed their gut instincts. They're feeling that he was heading towards, in the direction of Halifax. So they went on the main highway, and they were trying to go past whatever exit he was on and they were you know strategizing what the best way where they could possibly get out ahead of him that's when they heard that both constable morrison and constable stevenson were shot and all the while they're running out of gas so they made the decision to stop for gas they go to this really busy gas station in Enfield. It's a

big stop. It's usually really busy, but during COVID, it wasn't that busy. They did not realize he was at the pump next to them when they pulled up. Hughley and McLeod pull up. The plan was that Hughley's going to pump the gas. McLeod's going to cover for him and be on guard and protect him. And so they're both getting out of the vehicle and it happens so fast because there's video footage of it and it's seconds and then hearing constable hubly describe what was happening he said he was getting out of his car and he instinctively kind of reached down to check that his pistol was on his thigh he said he just routinely does that and as he's getting out, he looks across.

He has this perpendicular view of a man in a gray hatchback, which, remember, is not the vehicle they were looking for. But he says he sees this man sweating profusely, looks like he's out of breath, looks like he's been in a fight, according to the way he described it. And he said the thing that really struck with him is that this man's bleeding from the head. And he said he's got this wound and he's not dealing with it. And that's when it clicked. He said it was just a matter of split seconds where he realized this is the gunman. And meanwhile, McLeod was getting out of the vehicle anyway. He moved around to the front.

Hubley called out to him like, Benny, it's him. Constable Hubli said he started firing when he saw the gunman raise his right hand and he could recognize what was RCMP-issued pistol that had belonged to Constable Heidi Stevenson. Keyhole five, shots away. Pump number six, Enfield Big Thun. Suspect is down in his vehicle, multiple shots away. And we know now the gunman did shoot himself in the head. The chief medical examiner said this week that it was not immediately fatal and that likely the other rounds fired by the two officers

caused significant damage to the gunman's organs. And they, you know, they described what was going through their minds when they, Constable Hughley recognized the suspect, remembered those pictures, and he said he felt he was at risk, that Constable McLeod was at risk, and that there was other people who could be at risk if he didn't fire right away. I know there's a lot of people that are going to ask or want to know why we didn't give him the opportunity. And it wasn't so much that we didn't give him the opportunity, there was none. Again, we're splitting seconds. There's a lot of people that need to be thanked for the work they did that night.

I'll also say that there's a lot of us, and I say us as police officers, and I can speak for myself obviously because I'm here. It's been two years of grieving with Nova Scotians, with the families that are here, families of victims, and we lost one of our own too with Heidi. Life will never be the same for us either. These details are unbelievable. It's the best. I know in the coming weeks, we're going to be hearing, as you mentioned, from more senior officers and also civilians. And so you'll come back on and we'll talk about what you've learned. But thank you very much for this. You're welcome. All right, that is all for this week. Front Burner is brought to you by CBC News and CBC Podcasts. The show is produced this week by Simi Bassey, Imogen Burchard,

Ali Janes, Katie Toth, and Derek VanderWijk. Our sound design was by Mackenzie Cameron and Austin Pomeroy. Our intern is Sam Connard. Our music is by Joseph Chabison. The executive producer of From Berner is Nick McCabe-Locos, and I'm Jamie Poisson. Thanks so much for listening, and we'll talk to you next week. For more CBC Podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.