Nova Scotia’s emergency measures team was in place to send out an alert as an active shooter made his way through the province this past weekend, but the RCMP never requested it.
At a news conference Tuesday, Premier Stephen McNeil said the province was notified around midnight on Saturday that there were structure fires in Portapique that had the potential to spread into a forest fire.
“Our EMO team … had been activated, McNeil said in response to a reporter’s questions about concerns that an alert wasn't sent out to people's cellphones about the active shooter, which could have saved lives.
McNeil said staff, especially those that deal with the alert system, had been brought in, but “the lead agency, in this case the RCMP, has to ask for that alert to go out, because quite frankly we need the information to go out: what is it that they want in that alert to notify citizens.”
“We had staff on hand in the morning to be able to do that, but it was not requested,” he said.
Instead, RCMP posted updates about the shooter’s whereabouts and other details to its Twitter account.
Debi Atkinson, an avid hiker who often crossed paths with Lillian Hyslop on a daily in Wentworth, questioned why an emergency alert wasn’t issued.
Hyslop, one of 22 victims, was shot while on her morning walk in Wentworth Valley Sunday morning.
“I could have saved Lillian’s life if I had known 45 minutes before that,” Atkinson said.
At a news conference Monday, Chief Superintendent Chris Leather didn’t have an explanation for why an emergency alert wasn’t issued to Nova Scotians.
“It’s a good question, and I don’t have an answer for you at this moment,” Leather said.
But when pressed on the question again, Leather said the RCMP relied on Twitter “because of the instantaneous manner that we can communicate.”
“We have thousands of followers in Nova Scotia and felt that it was a superior way to communicate this ongoing threat,” Leather said.
RCMP did not make themselves available to media for questions on Tuesday, instead sending out a news release with a Q&A portion.
As of Tuesday evening, RCMP reported there were 22 victims in this past weekend’s shooting rampage that started in Portapique and ended in Enfield.
The deadly spree started as multiple 911 calls from concerned residents hearing gunshots in the area of Portapique Beach Road, Bay Shore Road and Five Houses Road in Portapique just after 10:30 p.m. on Saturday.
The shooter made his way from Portapique through multiple northern and central Nova Scotia communities, wearing an authentic police uniform and, at times, driving a mock-up police cruiser.
He was shot and killed by police in the parking lot of a gas station in Enfield around noon on Sunday.
Police said victims have been found in Portapique, Wentworth, Debert, Shubenacadie/Milford and Enfield. Some of the victims were known to the shooter, while others appear to be at random.
Among the victims were health-care workers, a teacher, RCMP officer, a family of three and correctional officers.
So far in the investigation, police have conducted interviews, processed crime scenes, done analytical work and searched the shooter's properties, but are still working to determine a motive behind the tragic events.
With files from John McPhee and Chris Lambie
