At Least 16 Killed In Overnight Shooting Rampage In Canada

The gunman identified as Gabriel Wortman was shot dead by officers after a 12-hour manhunt in Nova Scotia province of Canada.

Canada| A gunman who killed at least 16 people in an Atlantic Canada shooting rampage drove a mock-up police car, federal police said Sunday, the worst case of its kind in Canadian history.

The 51-year-old shooter, identified as Gabriel Wortman was shot dead by police after a 12-hour manhunt in Nova Scotia province ended Sunday morning.

One of the victims was a veteran female constable with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which also handles municipal and provincial law enforcement in the province.

The gunman, who worked as a denturist, appeared at one stage to have been wearing part of a police uniform, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.

Shooter Wortman shot people in various locations across the Atlantic province, police told a briefing.

Like the rest of Canada, Nova Scotia is under a stay-at-home order because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Police said there was no clear link between Wortman and at least some of his victims. They said they had no idea what his motive might have been.

“Today is a devastating day for Nova Scotia, and it will remain etched in the minds for many years to come,” said Lee Bergerman, commanding officer of the RCMP in Nova Scotia.

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Police said the suspect had been on the run since Saturday night when officers were alerted to shots fired in the town of Portapique, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Halifax.

Gun violence in Canada is far less frequent than in the neighbouring United States, and weapons more strictly controlled, but the killings were the country’s worst-ever, exceeding the toll in when a gunman shot 14 female students at Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique in 1989.