Toronto: A gunman disguised as a police officer went on a 12-hour rampage in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, shooting people in their homes, setting fires and killing at least 16 people, including a policewoman, in the deadliest such attack in the country’s history.
Officials said the suspected shooter, identified as 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman who apparently worked as a denture-maker, was also dead. Police did not provide a motive for the killings. “Today is a devastating day for Nova Scotia and will remain etched in the minds of many for years to come,” a visibly shaken Lee Bergerman, an assistant Royal Canadian Mounted Police commissioner, said on Sunday. Overnight Saturday, police began advising residents of the rural town of Portapique, about 100 km north of Halifax to lock their doors and stay in their basements.
Several bodies were later found inside and outside one home in Portapique. Bodies were also found at other locations. The assault began late on Saturday, and authorities believe the shooter may have targeted his first victims but then began attacking randomly. Several homes in the area were set on fire as well.
RCMP spokesman Daniel Brien confirmed that 16 people had been killed in addition to the suspect. Police said Wortman was thought to live part-time in Portapique. Authorities said he wore a police uniform at one point and made his car look like a RCMP cruiser. It was not clear how Wortman had died, and police did not explain further.
