Lost emails and unexplained delays: Mass shooting inquiry uncovers new RCMP snags

Inquiry in 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia revealed two new RCMP bugs that delayed warning to the public that the killer was driving a replica police car.

In both cases, the investigative committee concluded that the errors could not be satisfactorily explained, although it did put forward several theories as to what happened.

The investigation learned that on the night of April 18, 2020, officers were dispatched to Portapique, NS, where they discovered an active gunman who had killed several people and set a number of homes on fire. . In total, 13 people were murdered in Portapique that night.

But by early morning the next day, the killer had not been found.

Unbeknownst to investigators, he was behind the wheel of a vehicle that looked exactly like a marked RCMP patrol vehicle when he escaped onto a back road the night before.

Mounties received a full description of the vehicle after the killer’s spouse escaped in Portapique at 6:30 a.m., and the woman’s relatives provided a photo of the vehicle, which was delivered to RCMP at 7:27 am.

But that photo was not shared with the public until almost three hours later, a fact that has become the subject of much speculation and public outrage.

In a summary of evidence released Tuesday, the investigation revealed for the first time that the photo was supposed to go immediately to Lia Scanlan, the RCMP’s director of strategic communications, but an incident occurred. try.

In a previous interview with commission investigators, RCMP Officer, Sgt. Addie MacCallum said he passed a photo of the killer and a photo of his fake car to Scanlan before 8 a.m.

“So I sent her a photo of the car,” MacCallum told the committee.

The commission later determined the killer’s photo had been given to Scanlan, but the photo of the vehicle had gone elsewhere. The summary of evidence, known as the background document, says investigators found that MacCallum sent a second email with both photos at 8:10 a.m. local time.

“It is unknown if Lia Scanlan received the email and attachments at 8:10 am.” “Multiple Sclerosis. Scanlan told the Mass Accident Commission that she was unaware of the killer’s replica RCMP cruiser before 8 a.m.”

The note that Scanlan took that day says nothing about the photo of the car.

At 8:54 a.m., the RCMP posted a tweet that included a description and photo of the killer, as well as confirmation that the 51-year-old was armed and dangerous. There is no mention of the car.

Previously released documents and testimonies confirmed that there was discussion among senior Mounties, who believed that disclosing information about the fake car could frighten the public and lead to police in danger.

“Whether or not a decision has been made to delay the release of information about the replica RCMP cruiser at headquarters, it seems likely that preparations for such a release were already underway just before 9 a.m. April 19, 2020,” the base document says.

That’s when Cpl. Jennifer Clarke, a public information officer for the RCMP, emailed Scanlan with details about the vehicle. Clarke was asked to “pull something together” to get MacCallum’s approval.

At 9:40 a.m., Clarke sent a draft tweet with a photo of the car to MacCallum, but he didn’t respond. MacCallum has left headquarters in Great Village, NS, to join the chase for the killer, who was discovered in Wentworth, NS, where he shot and killed Lillian Campbell while she was on a morning walk.

Clarke then contacted Staff Sgt. Steve Halliday, who approved the tweet at 9:49 a.m. But the tweet wasn’t sent until 10:17 a.m., 28 minutes after Halliday authorized it. No explanation is provided in the platform documentation.

However, the Mounties were facing a full-blown crisis at the time. Shortly after 9:30 a.m., a series of 911 calls confirmed the killer had resumed his rampage. Shortly after the RCMP learned of Campbell’s death, they were informed that a body had been found next to a burning house in West Wentworth, NS, about 6 kilometers away.

And just after 10 a.m., police learned of the deaths of Heather O’Brien and Kristen Beaton, who were pregnant at the time. Both were killed on Plains Road in Debert, NS .

On the other hand, the committee is looking into what happened after 9:11 a.m. when Sheriff Supt. Chris Leather, the RCMP’s second-in-command in the province that morning, sent an email requesting a copy of the internal alert to be sent to police about the suspect and his vehicle.

According to the commission, an investigation is ongoing into Leather’s role “in connection with the disclosure of information about the replica RCMP cruiser.”

In an earlier interview with the committee, Scanlan explained that Twitter had become the RCMP’s primary means of communication with the public for the past eight or nine years.

She noted that she used Twitter to inform the public in June 2014 when a man fatally shot three Mounties in Moncton, NB, and remained there for 28 hours.

The Mounties have faced criticism for using Twitter to warn the public during mass shootings in Nova Scotia because the social media platform is unpopular among people living in rural areas and demanding Continuous monitoring for effectiveness.

When two Mounties shot and killed the killer at a gas station north of Halifax at 11:26 a.m., the RCMP sent out a tweet at 11:40 a.m.
said that “the suspect in the active shooting investigation is currently in custody.”

Scanlan said the term “in custody” was used because that’s what the media team was told at the time.

“We don’t care,” Scanlan said in her September 2021 interview. “We’ve just been told that it’s over, he’s in custody… so we’ve been on hold. again. Unlike waiting, confirm that he is dead. “

This Canadian Press report was first published on June 7, 2022.