Gunman kills at least 16 in Canada shooting

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An armed man driving a simulated police car killed at least 16 people in Canada, the worst case of its kind in the country’s history.

The attacker, identified as Gabriel Wortman, 51, was shot dead by officers after a 12-hour manhunt in the province of Nova Scotia.

Among the victims was a veteran police officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who is also in charge of municipal and provincial law enforcement in the province.

Police said the suspect had fled since Saturday night, when officers were alerted to gunshots in the town of Portapique, about 100 kilometers from Halifax.

Gun violence in Canada is much less frequent than in the neighboring United States, and weapons are more strictly controlled.

The killings were the worst in the country, surpassing the number of victims in 1989 when a gunman murdered 14 students at the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal.

Public broadcaster CBC quoted RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucki as saying that police know at least 16 victims, in addition to the gunman.

“What has happened overnight is incomprehensible and many families are experiencing the loss of a loved one,” Nova Scotia RCMP Commander Assistant Commissioner Lee Bergerman wrote on the local Facebook page of the strength.

“That includes our own RCMP family. It is with great sadness that I share with you that we lost Agent Heidi Stevenson, a 23-year-old Force veteran who was killed this morning while responding to an active shooter incident.”

In addition to Ms. Stevenson, a mother of two, a male agent was injured and is in hospital with non-life threatening injuries, Bergerman said.

The National Post newspaper said another victim was an elementary school teacher, citing a Facebook post by the woman’s sister.

Several victims were discovered both inside and outside a house in Portapique, prompting the persecution across multiple communities, police said.

“The search for the suspect ended this morning when the suspect was located. And I can confirm that he is deceased,” RCMP Chief Superintendent Chris Leather said at a press conference.

Leather said that at one point, the suspect appeared to be wearing part of a police uniform and was driving a vehicle made to resemble an RCMP cruiser.

RCMP repeatedly tweeted that he was not an officer and warned that he was considered “armed and dangerous.”

“The initial search for the suspect led to multiple sites in the area, including structures that were on fire,” Leather said at the press conference.

Another police spokesman said, without further details, that the gunman was killed after an officer intervened.

An independent agency, the Serious Incident Response Team (SiRT), which is investigating certain incidents involving the province’s police, said it “is investigating the shooting of a man in Enfield by RCMP officers.”

SiRT said in a statement that a clash had occurred in Enfield, near Halifax airport, “which caused officers to fire their firearms. The suspect was found to have died at the scene.”

Flags fly at half-mast in front of the police headquarters in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia

Police said they had no indication of a motive. Ms. Lucki told CBC that there was no indication “at this time” of a terrorist intention.

“What I would say is that it appears to be, at least in part, very random in nature,” Leather said.

“We are in the early stages of an incredibly detailed and complex investigation that has forever changed countless lives,” he said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement that “he was saddened to learn of the senseless violence in Nova Scotia,” and hopes for a full recovery for the wounded.



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