The ex-spouse of Gabriel Wortman, who killed 22 people on the run in Nova Scotia on April 18 and 19, 2020, made these statements during an interrogation by the RCMP ten days after the tragic events.
The transcript of this interview is included in the documents released by the Commission of Inquiry into the Mass Shootings. The name of the ex-spouse has been redacted so as not to reveal personal information, including information that could harm a person’s safety and dignity.
fear of a weapon
The interviewed ex-spouse said she had a relationship with the shooter since the early 1990s, when they attended the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton. They married in 1992, after graduation.
Michael MacDonald, chairman of the Mass Shootings Inquiry Commission created to understand the Portapique killings, April 2020.
Photo: The Canadian Press/Andrew Vaughan
She testified that once he was settled in Fredericton, he showed her a rifle with the number 47 inscribed on it. The police concluded that she was then referring to an AK-47 assault rifle.
This weapon scared her, she confessed.
Her ex-husband worked with youth groups for a while, but since he wasn’t making enough money, he went into funeral services.
The couple later moved to Kentville, Nova Scotia, as the shooter took a funeral-related course at the local community college before securing employment in Dartmouth.
After two years in this field, her ex-husband changed his professional orientation and studied to become a dentist, before opening a dental office.
Alcohol consumption
At that time, again according to the testimony of the ex-wife, he increased his alcohol consumption, suddenly becoming a different person.
” You know how some people drink and they are not themselves. That’s how he was when he was drinking. Sometimes he cried, he cried. Sometimes he got angry and he broke things. »
She recalled one incident in particular, where he got angry because of a dusty tablet on a wall in the house.
He threw all the books off the shelf, destroyed all the dishes and he took a hammer. I remember being very scared that day
she said.
Attempting to flee by exiting through a window and heading for the car, he spotted her and came out to confront her and lead her home.
Separation
Their relationship ended after about ten years, when the shooter was caught kissing a student at the dental clinic. His ex-wife then noticed an increase in alcohol consumption due to her feelings of guilt.
The extra-marital affair continued and the ex-spouse then asked him to leave the house. The divorce was confirmed a year later. He kept the house in which he had his dental clinic.
Twenty years after their separation, his ex-wife still finds it difficult to accept the events of Portapique.
I never could have expected this to happen
she told the RCMP. I don’t understand how anyone could do that. I can see him getting angry enough to hurt someone, but I can’t see him doing things like that. Not the person I knew so long ago.
A horrible childhood, according to his brother
The RCMP also questioned the shooter’s brother, Jeff Samuelson, given up for adoption in 1990 and now living in the United States. He gave his point of view on the shooter.
The Nova Scotian didn’t know he had a brother until 2010.
Samuelson testified on April 27, two days before the ex-wife and eight after the rampage.
He said he had a long telephone conversation with his brother who told him that he had a horrible childhood and that his parents had the maturity of 13-year-old children. Their father, Paul Wortman, sometimes wore a police uniform to harass people, he said.
According to Samuelson, his brother hated their father and wanted to kill their parents.
The witness also described a visit to Portapique where his brother showed weapons and revealed places where he had hidden them around the house.
A $20 million investigation
So far, this public inquiry has cost nearly $20 million with another six months of mandate to fulfill. The Nova Scotia Department of Justice confirmed it spent $12.8 million, an addition of $6.9 million since the end of January. The federal government must pay its share and has already provided $7.1 million.
By comparison, the public inquiry into the murders and suicide of Lionel Desmond cost $3 million.
According to information from CBC
Reference-ici.radio-canada.ca