Const. Dave Melanson’s voice cracked as he expressed remorse over the fear people experienced when he shot a man outside a Nova Scotia fire station, but the RCMP officer said he stood by the decision he made during the search for a killer.
“It’s a huge benefit to come back and say if you knew this, if you knew that, and I didn’t have that benefit. I had a split second. That day, I gave… I gave everything.” ,” he said.
“I’m sorry for what the firefighters went through, it was a tough day for a lot of people that day, it affected us all.”
Melanson and his partner Const. Terry Brown testified Thursday in Dartmouth on the morning of April 2020 when they were in an unmarked car looking for the man who was murdering strangers. Officers said they fired their carbines in Onslow, NS, to try to apprehend a man fitting the suspect’s description of him, whom they believed to be a threat.
“I’m so sorry for the people that were in the building, the firefighters that were there. I had no idea they were there,” Brown said. “At the end of the day, I wouldn’t have changed my reaction. I thought that person was going into the building to kill people.”
The man who was their target turned out to be a civilian wearing a security vest. David Westlake was Colchester County’s emergency management coordinator and he was wearing a bright yellow vest with orange and gray reflective strips. That morning he was at the firehouse helping people displaced by the violence that started in Portapique, NS, the night before.
No one was physically injured, but three other men who were inside the fire room previously testified at the inquest about the terror they experienced after realizing someone was shooting at their room. They spent about an hour in hiding, waiting for information, thinking the real gunman was out.
Suspect with shiny security vest
On April 19, 2020, Gabriel Wortman was traveling between communities in Nova Scotia driving a replica RCMP cruiser and killing strangers. The night before he had killed 13 neighbors, and Brown and Melanson knew that he had killed at least three people that morning.
Brown had interviewed the shooter’s domestic partner around 7 a.m. in the back of an ambulance in Great Village, NS, and told the investigation that her description of him in an orange vest stuck with him. Later, another Mountie radioed that he passed the suspect on the road and that he was wearing “a reflective vest.”
After realizing the heavily armed shooter was on the move, Brown and Melanson gave chase. They told the investigation that their goal was to stop him and that they were ready for a confrontation.
“I was prepared to expect to be shot. I thought it would be a done deal if we found it,” Melanson said.
After seeing a man in a safety vest outside a firehouse about 10 miles from the shooter’s last known location, Brown and Melanson said they stopped in the middle of the road and took cover behind their vehicle. Both officers said they couldn’t see anyone sitting inside the patrol car and only noticed a Pictou County officer was in the driver’s seat when he got out.
They also testified that they had not heard the information that was broadcast over the radio that the attacker’s car had a black push bar and that they were unaware that the fire room was being used as a comfort center.
Different accounts about what was shouted
Melanson testified that after spotting the possible suspect, he frantically tried to communicate on his portable radio. The investigation found that he made eight unsuccessful attempts to pass.
Brown said he was completely focused on the man in front of the aisle and didn’t realize there were other cars or towers set up in the parking lot. He said he identified himself and yelled at the person he believed to be the gunman to show his hands before shooting.
“All I could see was this person in the orange reflective vest standing next to the police car. They ducked. So as I was yelling orders, he ducks, and at that point I don’t know if he’s going to come back up with a gun or what their intentions are,” Brown said.
“He then ran from the back of the car into the building and that’s when we unloaded our firearms.”
The man’s movements “appeared to be tactical, like moving toward the back of the car. I thought we had to stop him.” Melanson said.
Melanson said he didn’t remember exactly what his partner yelled. But Westlake’s account and Brown’s account differ in what was said.
“I’ve never heard ‘police’ or ‘show your hands.’ I heard ‘go down’. And I stand firm to this day, this is what I heard,” Westlake said in his interview with the commission.
He said he didn’t realize the men across the parking lot were police officers, heard a “sonic boom” of a gunshot, and ran toward the fire room.
It was the first time Brown had shot someone in his 13 years as a police officer. He fired four rounds. Melanson fired one.
18 seconds inside the hall
It was not until Const. Dave Gagnon, the Mountie who had been sitting inside his squad car, got out and yelled into his radio and across the parking lot, which Brown and Melanson realized there was a second man outside, they testified.
Meanwhile, Westlake had joined two firefighters and Richard Ellison, whose son was killed the night before, inside the room where they hid behind tables.
Surveillance video captured at the salon showed Brown walking around the exterior of the salon and Gagnon and Melanson entering for 17 seconds.
Melanson testified that they asked if everyone was okay and if they were okay, they got confirmation that was the case for Westlake and never realized anyone else was inside the building.
“I knew there would be time for explanation, but that was not the time,” he testified.
Five minutes after unloading their carbines, Mealnson and Brown were back on the road, hoping to locate Wortman.
Excuse me too late, say the firemen
Thursday’s testimony marked the first time firefighters Darrell Currie and Greg Muise were in the same room with the two mounted police officers whose shots caused $40,000 worth of damage to their living room.
They said it would have saved them an hour of fear and uncertainty if the Mounties had spent a little time explaining the situation before they left.
“They could have at least come and asked us personally, checked the number of people in the building and checked that we were all physically okay,” said Currie, deputy chief of the volunteer squad.
Muise said all they knew was that someone was shooting at them, trying to hurt them, and they didn’t find out until later that it was the RCMP who fired by mistake.
Trauma with lasting impacts
He and Currie also recall hearing a knock on the hallway side door as they hid, leading them to believe that Wortman was outside trying to get in.
Neither Brown nor Melanson said they tried to open a locked door.
Both firefighters previously spoke with CBC News about the lasting trauma caused by losing their sense of safety in their living room and their faith in the police force they always worked closely with while responding to fires and other emergencies.
They questioned why the RCMP never apologized for the incident. On Thursday they called the mounted police response “lip-smacking” and said the apologies in their testimony did not make up for it.
“I don’t know why they waited so long for an apology…now it means nothing to me,” Muise said.
Currie said he feels the force should apologize to his entire community for the trauma the incident caused.
“There are people here today who are still grieving and in therapy, but are not recognized as having experienced a traumatic event,” he said.
“We were close and we didn’t give up”
Officers said they didn’t spend time surveying the impact their rounds had as they were in the midst of searching for the active shooter, and they weren’t focused on property damage.
Back on the road, Brown proceeded to call Sgt. Al Carroll to tell him what happened and they pumped gas before continuing on Highway 102, the main route to Halifax, in an attempt to intercept the gunman. As they were driving, they learned that he had attacked two of his colleagues.
Const. Chad Morrison survived a confrontation with the gunman; Const. Heidi Stevenson didn’t.
Brown and Melanson arrived at the Big Stop in Enfield, NS, shortly after two other mounted police officers recognized and shot Wortman.
“My training and goal was to go after the killer, and I think if I had, I would have been left behind. [at the fire hall] that would have been a mistake and today I would regret it,” Melanson said.
“Terry and I were there when he was shot down, within minutes we got to the yard where he was and shots were fired. We were close and we didn’t give up.”
Reference-www.cbc.ca