At least 13 killed in Canada rampage, suspect dead
A gunman killed at least 13 people in an overnight shooting rampage across rural Nova Scotia, before being found dead Sunday after one of Canada’s worst killing sprees in decades, federal police said.
Identified as 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman, the suspect had been on the run since Saturday night, when police were alerted to shots fired in the town of Portapique, around 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Halifax, capital of the Atlantic province.
Gun violence in Canada is far less than in the neighboring United States, and weapons more strictly controlled, and the killings were the country’s worst since 1989 when a gunman murdered 14 female students at Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique.
“I can report that there were 13 victims so far, plus the suspect, that are deceased,” the commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Brenda Lucki, told Canadian broadcaster CBC.
The victims included a female RCMP officer, Constable Heidi Stevenson, a 23-year veteran of the Force, while a second officer was injured.
In Nova Scotia several victims were discovered both outside and inside a house in the town, sparking a 12-hour manhunt through multiple communities.
“The search for the suspect ended this morning. When the suspect was located. And I can confirm that he is deceased,” Chief Superintendent Chris Leather told a press conference earlier.
Leather said that at one point the suspect appeared to be wearing part of a police uniform and was driving a vehicle made to look like an RCMP cruiser. (AFP)
