Police have identified the suspect in a mass shooting across the northern part of Nova Scotia province in Canada as 51-year-old denture-maker Gabriel Wortman.
Wortman began his shooting spree on Saturday evening at a house in the rural town of Portapique, police said. The gunman was from the area and owned three properties in the town, but authorities have not confirmed if he owned or lived at the home where the attacks started.
CBC reported that Wortman also owned three properties in Dartmouth, one of which was a clinic where he worked as a denturist.
Initially, people thought Wortman was connected with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police after he wore part of what looked to be a Mountie uniform and drove a patrol car during part of his spree on Saturday into Sunday.
The RCMP later confirmed the man had no connection to them.
But Chief Superintendent Chris Leather did suggest the attack was planned: “The fact that this individual had a uniform and a police car at his disposal certainly speaks to it not being a random act."
In 2014, Wortman was in the news after he responded to a CTV story about a cancer survivor who lost her teeth and could not afford to replace them. He offered to make her a pair for free through his denture business.
“My heart went out to her,” Wortman said at the time. “There’s so many ways for people to get dentures, but it seems like the people who really need them are the people who are getting left behind.”
Police began a search for the gunman on Saturday night that spanned multiple areas of the northern province before it all came to an end at an Enfield gas station.
Wortman was confirmed dead by the RCMP after he was arrested.
RCMP constable Heidi Stevenson, who was a 23-year veteran with the force, was named among Wortman's victims. She was killed in the line of duty "protecting her community" while responding to the active shooter threat, a commanding officer wrote on Facebook.
