Active Shooter In NS. April 19 2020

[Stoker]

All sides of that particular debate are calling for all sorts of stuff.

Maybe we should leave this thread to the fact of the incident and as things come to light.  We can discuss the political side in the gun debate thread.

Not a knock to you Chief.  Just that we have people here affected directly by this on this thread.  Maybe we can move the gun debate to the right section. 

I’m happy to be told to go pound salt, but just a suggestion for everyone here.

Done and done my friend.

 

[Eye In The Sky]

I lost two hunting buddies yesterday with a 3rd wounded.....

Very sorry for your loss, HT. 

Having spent time in most of the places the events unfolded over, I am still baffled at how peaceful little places in NS can have things like this happen.  I used to live in Enfield, fish stripers on the Shubie, hike in Economy...you just never, ever think evil of that magnitude will manifest in these peaceful places. 

There are many dark, evil details of what happened over the 12 hours; some of them are starting to be part of media updates.  I've attached a picture from a post I saw awhile ago that is some of the "good" from the events.  There was also a video today of Cst Morrison going thru Elmsdale on his way home and the community turn out to welcome him 'home'.

RIP to all the fallen, and sincere condolences to all for the lives, families and communities who will be forever scarred. 

 

[BeyondTheNow]

I lost two hunting buddies yesterday with a 3rd wounded.....

My condolences, HT.

 

[PuckChaser]

All sides of that particular debate are calling for all sorts of stuff.

Maybe we should leave this thread to the fact of the incident and as things come to light.  We can discuss the political side in the gun debate thread.

Not a knock to you Chief.  Just that we have people here affected directly by this on this thread.  Maybe we can move the gun debate to the right section. 

I’m happy to be told to go pound salt, but just a suggestion for everyone here.

I agree with you, but its kind of hard to do that when the Prime Minister is using the tragedy to further political talking points on gun control. https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/trudeau-reiterates-gun-control-commitment-in-wake-of-mass-shooting-1.4903966

 

[brihard]

I agree with you, but its kind of hard to do that when the Prime Minister is using the tragedy to further political talking points on gun control. https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/trudeau-reiterates-gun-control-commitment-in-wake-of-mass-shooting-1.4903966

The ongoing gun control thread is probably still the appropriate venue for that part of the discussion given how there’s still a very serious and complicated event as the focus of this thread, and the gun control stuff tends to generate a high volume of rapid commentary. It would suck to see the discussion of the event itself crowded out.

 

[The Bread Guy]

I lost two hunting buddies yesterday with a 3rd wounded.....

Condolences ....

 

[Lance Wiebe]

I lost two hunting buddies yesterday with a 3rd wounded.....

So sorry to hear that. It's hard to lose buddies.....

 

[lenaitch]

I lost two hunting buddies yesterday with a 3rd wounded.....

Condolences to you as a friend and to their families.  Condolences to all of the victims' families.  Words seem so inadequate at times like this.

 

[lenaitch]

I was watching the CBC news channel and caught an interview with Premier of NS.  The host seemed to be taken aback when the Premier said he was not called in the night but rather, found out about the events when he woke up.  His answer was essentially 'why would they call me unless they need some action from the government'.  I agree with him.  The last thing cops need to do in the middle of an investigative firefight in the middle of the night is to maintain an 'fyi phone chain'.

 

[Baz]

There is a GoFundMe page for Cst Stevenson at https://ca.gofundme.com/f/supporting-the-family-of-cst-heidi-stevenson.

There are also other's for other victims and as a group.  I just thought I'd let the Army.ca community know in case any of you wanted to show your support.  There are obviously lot's of NS Communities affected by this.

 

[Eaglelord17]

Apparently this scumbag was using his fake cruiser to pull over people and shoot them dead.

I am really questioning why the police didn't use the emergency alert system on our phones with this shooting(s). This is one of the few times where I can see it possibly having saved lives as it could have let them know not to be pulled over. Not much the victims could have really done in that situation, they did what they were supposed to (pull over when the sirens come on) and by time they would have realized anything was wrong it would be too late.

 

[mariomike]

I am really questioning why the police didn't use the emergency alert system on our phones with this shooting(s).

National Post had this to say,

https://nationalpost.com/news/officials-cant-explain-why-emergency-alert-didnt-go-out-as-gunman-tore-through-nova-scotia

 

[brihard]

Apparently this scumbag was using his fake cruiser to pull over people and shoot them dead.

I am really questioning why the police didn't use the emergency alert system on our phones with this shooting(s). This is one of the few times where I can see it possibly having saved lives as it could have let them know not to be pulled over. Not much the victims could have really done in that situation, they did what they were supposed to (pull over when the sirens come on) and by time they would have realized anything was wrong it would be too late.

I would be wondering which info they had when, and whether it was considered solid yet. You can only imagine how ridiculously chaotic this would have been to start and what kinds of weird or potentially false reports would be coming in. We’d need to know what reports they got and what was credible. Unfortunately the circumstances suggest there would have been few witnesses to stuff like that.

 

[lenaitch]

Apparently this scumbag was using his fake cruiser to pull over people and shoot them dead.

I am really questioning why the police didn't use the emergency alert system on our phones with this shooting(s). This is one of the few times where I can see it possibly having saved lives as it could have let them know not to be pulled over. Not much the victims could have really done in that situation, they did what they were supposed to (pull over when the sirens come on) and by time they would have realized anything was wrong it would be too late.

No doubt this question will be parsed in the months to come but I suspect the decision to use was based on the fact that it is faster.  Assuming the provincial alert system is similar to Ontario's, a request (likely from a pre-determined rank level) and crafted message would have to go the the NS EMO then approved at some senior level by them, possibly translated, run through the text-to-voice software then injected into the broadcast system, all in the middle of the night.  I suppose the RCMP determined that the ability to tweet out multiple messages in seconds (from a designated point - probably a Comm operator or supervisor) in a dynamic situation would be more effective.

Or, if it's anything like Ontario, they determined that their 911 system didn't need to be overloaded by a bunch of whinny calls from Yarmouth or Syndey complaining about being woken up for no reason.

 

[Haggis]

The Star is reporting that the alleged attacker had an assault conviction in October 2001 and an accompanying firearms prohibition order. If the order was still in force, how he got the firearms used should be interesting to hear.

 

[brihard]

The Star is reporting that the alleged attacker had an assault conviction in October 2001 and an accompanying firearms prohibition order. If the order was still in force, how he got the firearms used should be interesting to hear.

Conditional discharge for common assault. I doubt the prohibition would have still been in effect. That said, I’m not going to opine on what the likely legal status was of anything he used or possessed. It’s worth waiting for facts on that one.

 

[Old Sweat]

Stand by! There just was a post on a news site that the RCMP have announced there now are 22 victims.

Add: there is a story on CTVnews.ca.

 

[MilEME09]

The Star is reporting that the alleged attacker had an assault conviction in October 2001 and an accompanying firearms prohibition order. If the order was still in force, how he got the firearms used should be interesting to hear.

The public safety minister said in committee that the department and the RCMP do not actually track, or follow up with people who have a prohibition on owning fire arms, these could be his weapons from prior to 2001 for all we know. If people want tougher gun laws, that's were they should look, not banning guns, but closing loop holes like why the heck the RCMP doesn't track or follow up with anyone on a prohibition order. There is way to many questions that are not answered yet, until we have all the facts it is to early to say what measures should be taken to prevent future mass shootings like this one.

 

[Blackadder1916]

Military will be supporting investigation into Nova Scotia mass shooting: sources
https://globalnews.ca/news/6846634/nova-scotia-shooting-military/

BY MERCEDES STEPHENSON AND AMANDA CONNOLLY GLOBAL NEWS Posted April 21, 2020 11:02 am Updated April 21, 2020 12:12 pm

The Canadian military will be supporting law enforcement in Nova Scotia in the investigation into a mass shooting that left at least 19 people dead, including an RCMP member.

Multiple sources tell Global News the military will be providing equipment such as tents, generators and lights to help protect and process the crime scenes.

Roughly 30 Canadian Forces members will also be involved in providing that support.

 

[Baz]

I would be wondering which info they had when, and whether it was considered solid yet. You can only imagine how ridiculously chaotic this would have been to start and what kinds of weird or potentially false reports would be coming in. We’d need to know what reports they got and what was credible. Unfortunately the circumstances suggest there would have been few witnesses to stuff like that.

Thanks for those comments.

The wording of such an alert, and the timing, would be incredibly difficult, especially in the "fog of battle."

I think that people probably made the best decisions they given what they knew.  It's unlikely anyone involved in the response acted maliciously in my mind, which is what we should expect in these situations.

My kids put hearts in the window today for Cst Stevenson, like a lot of other's on my street.  The community is doing it's best to let her family know they aren't alone.  I prefer to let the investigators do their work and supporting those impacted by this despicable act.