N.S. police warn active shooter may be driving what looks like RCMP vehicle, wearing uniform
Police advising residents in the area to go into their basements and lock the doors
CBC News · Posted: Apr 19, 2020 5:37 AM AT | Last Updated: 3 minutes ago
CBC News Network
Nova Scotia RCMP have identified the active shooter in the rural community of Portapique, N.S., as 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman.
Police say there are multiple victims but would not say Sunday morning how many people were either injured or killed.
Gabriel Wortman, 51, has been identified by RCMP as the man at the centre of an active shooter situation that began late Saturday in the rural community of Portapique, N.S. (RCMP)
Police said Sunday Wortman may be driving what appears to be an RCMP vehicle and may be wearing an RCMP uniform.
"There's 1 difference btwn his car and our RCMP vehicles: the car #. The suspect's car is 28B11, behind rear passenger window. If you see 28B11 call 911 immediately," Nova Scotia RCMP tweeted.
RCMP said Wortman is considered armed and dangerous. Around 10:30 a.m. Sunday, RCMP tweeted that Wortman is currently in the Central Onslow and Debert area west of Truro in the vehicle that looks like an RCMP car and wearing an RCMP uniform.
"If you see him, call 911. DO NOT approach," RCMP tweeted Sunday morning.
Police said Wortman is a bald white man who is six-foot-two to six-foot-three with green eyes.
Police first alerted the public to an incident with a weapon involving someone with a firearm in the Portapique area on Saturday at 11:30 p.m. Residents are being advised by RCMP to stay in their homes and lock their doors.
"You may not see the police but we are there with you," the Nova Scotia RCMP tweeted Sunday morning.
RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Lisa Croteau says the public is also being asked to avoid the area of Portapique Beach Road, Bay Shore Road and Five Houses Road along the Cobequid Bay in Colchester County.
Croteau says people living on those streets should if possible "go into the basement, we just have an unfolding situation, a person with a firearm, and would like everybody to stay safe and we will provide more updates when available."
Some parts of the community have been evacuated but Croteau did not give details on how many people or from which area.
Police and other first responders have set up a staging area in the community of Great Village, about 10 minutes east of Portapique.
A five-kilometre stretch of Highway 2, which runs through Portapique, has been closed between Great Village and the community of Economy.
Portapique is about 40 kilometres west of Truro, N.S. A spokesperson for the Colchester East Hants Health Centre in Truro said the hospital went into lockdown at 11:35 p.m. Saturday, but could not give any further details.
Police, fire, and paramedics are staging in the nearby community of Great Village, about 10 minutes from Portapique, N.S., where they are responding to an active shooter situation that began late Saturday night. (Shaina Luck/CBC)
Mike MacKay, who lives just off the Glooscap Trail in Portapique, N.S., said the situation is "very uncomfortable."
He said he saw police cars on the Portapique Beach Road around 11:30 p.m. Saturday, across the Portapique River from his home.
"We saw a fire down the road, and thought that's all that it was. Then we saw a second fire and a third fire," said MacKay in a phone interview from his home Sunday morning.
MacKay said they found out hours later that it was an active shooter situation. He said he did not sleep at all overnight.
'You're on edge'
"You're on edge. It's a small community," said MacKay. "It becomes quite a concern."
Coun. Tom Taggart, who represents the area for the Municipality of Colchester, described Portapique as a quiet community with many seniors.
"There's a lot of people very concerned," he said in a phone interview Sunday morning. "I do know that there's a huge police presence and that should make people relatively comfortable."
Taggart said there are many seasonal homes in the area, which has around 100 residents but swells to 250 in the warmer months.
"It's a beautiful, quiet, rural community," said Taggart, adding that the situation is not something he'd expect to happen in "cottage country."
The RCMP would not comment on the report of multiple house fires when asked by CBC News on Sunday morning.
