Civilians sought shelter from police gunfire inside fire hall as search for Gabriel Wortman went awry, an inquiry heard Monday.
HALIFAX—Deputy fire chief Darrell Currie had been staffing the fire hall’s comfort centre when gunshots rang out.
The public inquiry that’s reviewing the mass shooting two years ago in northern Nova Scotia turned its attention Monday to the moments of chaos that unfolded at a small-town fire hall as authorities hunted for a gunman in the midst of a rampage. Gabriel Wortman, a 51-year-old denturist would eventually killed 22 people over 13 hours before being spotted and killed by police at a gas station.
As Westlake turned to walk away, an unmarked Nissan Altima stopped in the middle of the road about 88 metres away and two police officers — Melanson and Brown — got out, armed with carbines. Gagnon recognized one of them, though not by name.“I immediately grabbed the police radio that was on my dash and yelled out, ‘You guys are pointing your guns at me,’” said Gagnon in his police report later. “Without any delay, I heard multiple shots being fired towards my location.
He yelled at Brown and Melanson, telling them there were civilians in the building, then ran inside to check on them.They told Gagnon everyone was OK, and he went back outside. “I remember thinking, ‘How am I going to die? Am I going to bleed out on the floor of this comfort centre? Am I going to see this person? Are they going to shoot through the wall?’”At 10:25 a.m., Brown and Melanson got back into their car and headed east toward Truro.
Earlier that morning, Brown and Melanson had been tasked with interviewing Lisa Banfield, the gunman’s common-law wife, after she emerged from the woods in Portapiquem having escaped him and hid overnight. As the morning went on, the two officers responded to Wortman’s shootings in Wentworth, to his attempted entry to a house in Glenholme and to his shootings on Plains Road in Debert.