An RCMP tactical team tasked with tracking down a mass shooter in April 2020 was dealing with the aftermath of his deadly toll in Portapique, N.S., when it was alerted hours later that he had continued his rampage in a community more than 40 kilometres away.
A new document released Monday by the inquiry investigating the tragedy that claimed 22 lives details the initial response of the heavily armed RCMP Emergency Response Team.
Soon after its arrival, the team was about to enter Portapique when it was sent to check out several suspicious sightings involving someone with a flashlight outside homes in the community of Five Houses, across a river and nearly three kilometres away. "It caused delays in locating addresses and, and you know, getting the lay of the land for sure," Mills told inquiry staff, adding that night they were "definitely cursing" their inability to map and track.
The tactical team was finally updated at 8:20 a.m. with further information that the marked car had a call sign on its side of 28-B11.