Alleged Nova Scotia mass killer Gabriel Wortman reportedly used his “replica” police car “to flag down motorists before murdering them, and also targeted passersby who offered to help and a lone walker out for a Sunday morning stroll,” The Guardian newspaper reported.
Wortman was killed by police after being on the run for 12 hours. His body count has reached at least 22, but Canadian authorities have yet to reveal the types of firearms he used. Canada has much stricter gun control laws than the U.S.
Among the dead was a female member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Wortman apparently shot her fatally and then took her gun and ammunition after setting both his fake patrol car and her real one on fire and carjacking a third vehicle.
In the aftermath, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is already talking about additional gun control laws, calling for a ban on so-called “assault weapons” even before the public knows what kinds of guns were used by the shooter.
Wortman apparently owned several decommissioned police cars, which he apparently refurbished.
The killing spree apparently began as a domestic violence incident but quickly spread. Some of the victims reportedly knew the gunman but others were apparently killed at random.
But there are some interesting allegations starting to surface in the case. Brian Lilley, a writer at the Toronto Sun, reported, “It took the Mounties until Wednesday afternoon to admit publicly they had known since they first heard Wortman’s name and ran it through the computer that he didn’t have a gun license. Yet somehow, Wortman was armed with a gun or guns. We don’t know for sure because the RCMP won’t say.”
A few paragraphs later, Lilley observed, “Despite all that we know — that Wortman wasn’t licensed, that his guns were not legal, that they may have been lost or stolen police guns — the narrative from the Trudeau Liberals is that this is further proof we need stronger gun control.”
He said the Mounties “have been loathe to release information about this incident.”
