Two RCMP officers observe a minute’s silence in honor of the slain Const. Heidi Stevenson and the other 21 victims of the mass killings at a checkpoint on Portapique Street in Portapique, NS on Friday, April 24, 2020. In the seconds after Mountie, an armed man wanted for a murder rage in Nova Scotia two days ago years, the policeman hesitated as to whether he should hunt, and by the time the suspect did so he was gone. THE CANADIAN PRESS / Andrew Vaughan Seconds after a Mountain rushed past a gunman wanted for a murderous riot in Nova Scotia two years ago, the officer was reluctant to pursue and when he did, the suspect was gone. Public inquiry documents released Thursday describe in detail for the first time a meeting between Cpl. Rodney Peterson and the killer on April 19, 2020. The two men — one real Mountie and the other rogue in a police uniform driving a replica of an RCMP vehicle — crossed in opposite directions shortly before 9:48 a.m. on Highway 4 listen to the community of Glenholme. Peterson wirelessly told other RCMP members that the driver was wearing a reflective vest and “smiled as he passed,” prompting another police officer to say, “This is it. This must be it.” The captain had come to the shift that morning with instructions to look for the fake patrol of the killer and to put on his armor. Originally destined for Portapique, NS, where the first 13 killings took place on April 18, he was taken to the side of the road where Lillian Campbell – the 17th victim of the murder – was killed that morning in Wentworth, NS. Moments after the killer passed by him, leaving the scene, Peterson struggled to determine his next move. “Am I trying to decide, should I stop, slow down, talk to this person or continue?” Peterson would recall an interview with lawyers representing the jury. “Well, I said, ‘If I stop and this is the bad guy, they’ll shoot me here, I’ll be killed. “If I continue, this will give me the opportunity to go back and chase him, or do something,” he told the interviewer. However, in the ensuing seconds, the policeman found the road too narrow for a quick turnaround. He said he was worried that if he was too late to make the turn, the killer might come back to shoot him. According to the commission summary, Peterson turned to chase about 1.2 kilometers after the point where he and the gunman had crossed. “At this point, I think, I’ll be shot if I do not do it right,” the officer told the commission in an interview, explaining his decision to delay the turn. Meanwhile, another tense drama unfolded about a couple living along the highway – which would drive the police officer out of the chase. According to the commission summary, the killer, Gabriel Wortman, turned on the road between Carol and Adam Fisher less than a minute after Peterson overtook him. Wartman knew Adam Fisher, an excavator, from an excerpt given by the contractor at his home in Portapik. The killer had also been found at Fisers’ Glenholme’s home once in the past, according to the synopsis. He pulled the replica of the RCMP at the end of their long journey, behind the couple’s two vehicles where it was not easily visible from the freeway. A grainy image captured by the couple’s video surveillance system shows him standing near the car, carrying what appears to be a rifle. The killer knocked on Fishers’ door and rang the doorbell, but both had seen a social media alert identifying Wortman and were aware of the danger, according to a document filed in the investigation. Adam Fisher grabbed his 12-gauge shotgun, loaded it, and he and his wife — both on the 911 phone — found hiding places around 9:49 a.m. .. away “, said Adam Fisher to the 911 pilot. The committee did not give an exact time for how long Wortman stayed around the house, but estimated – based on travel time to the next destinations – it was about two minutes. As this happened, the committee’s account shows that Peterson drove from the Fisers’s home without realizing that Wortman was there. The officer continued at Highway 4 intersection with Trans-Canada Highway until about 9:50 a.m. when he heard from police officers that Wortman had left for Fishers’s home. Meanwhile, the narrative of the investigation suggests that the killer returned with the copy of the RCMP car, drove north on Highway 4 and turned on Plains Road, towards the small community of Debert, again escaping police and emergency teams running towards the house of the Fisers. At the time, Kristen Beaton was on her way to work as a continuing care assistant in the Victoria Order of Nurses, and Heather O’Brien, an authorized nurse practitioner with VON, was on vacation. They were both parked next to Plains Road, not far from each other. The investigation showed that Beaton, who was pregnant with her second child, had texted her husband just before 9 a.m. and posted a link to her colleagues’ Facebook page, urging them to be careful, given the killings in last night. Portapique. Her husband told her that the killer was still free and sent a photo of the perpetrator to his wife, which included a warning that he was armed and dangerous. And at 10:01 a.m., a text followed indicating that the gunman had been located in Wentworth, about 30 miles away. Following this text, Nick Beaton received no further answers from his wife. “She died irrationally that morning,” Roger Burrill, the attorney in the investigation, told a hearing Thursday. “She was shot outside the driver of her vehicle as she sat in her car.” The investigation showed that O’Brien was shot several times while talking on her cell phone with a friend. O’Brien had a break, but was worried about the Portapique incident and the well-being of her colleagues and friends. He was talking to his colleague Leona Allen when he was killed. “Allen experienced the horror of hearing the murder and the last minutes of her friend’s life,” Beryl said, pausing to keep his composure. The investigation was postponed to April 11.
