Man disguised as cop kills 16 in deadliest shooting in Canada in 30 years

At least 16 people were killed on Sunday after a man disguised as a police officer went on a shooting rampage in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. According to officials, the incident is the deadliest such attack in the country in 30 years. 

The suspected shooter, identified as Gabriel Wortman, 51, was dead, said officials, adding a police officer, identified as Constable Heidi Stevenson, a mother of two and a 23-year veteran of the force was among those killed. Several bodies were found inside and outside one home in the small, rural town of Portapique, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of Halifax.

Overnight, police began advising residents of the town already on lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic to lock their doors and stay in their basements. Several homes in the area were set on fire as well, news agency Associated Press reported.

Authorities said the shooter wore a police uniform at one point and made his car look like a Royal Canadian Mounted Police cruiser.

Authorities believe there might be an initial motivation for the attack but then it turned to randomness, RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki told Canadian media.

Police first announced that they had arrested Wortman at a gas station in Enfield, outside Halifax, but later said he had died. It was not clear how, and they did not explain further.

"This is one of the most senseless acts of violence in our province's history," said Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil.

Already, it is one of the worst shootings in Canadian history. Mass shootings are relatively rare in the country.

Canada overhauled its gun-control laws after the its worst mass shooting in 1989, when gunman Marc Lepine killed 14 women and himself at Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique college.

This weekend's shooting is the deadliest since then. It is now illegal to possess an unregistered handgun or any kind of rapid-fire weapon in Canada.

The country also requires training, a personal risk assessment, two references, spousal notification and criminal record checks to purchase a weapon.

"As a country, in moments like these, we come together to support one another. Together we will mourn with the families of the victims, and help them get through this difficult time," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a written statement.

Tom Taggart, a lawmaker who represents the Portapique area in the Municipality of Colchester, said the quiet community has been shaken.

"This is just an absolutely wonderful, peaceful quiet community and the idea that this could happen in our community is unbelievable," Taggart said by phone from his home in nearby Bass River.

A Gabriel Wortman is listed as a denturist a person who makes dentures in the city of Dartmouth, near Halifax, according to the Denturist Society of Nova Scotia website.

A suspect photo issued by the RCMP appears to be of the same person seen in video footage being interviewed about dentures by CTV Atlantic in 2014.

Mills also said that Wortman was known locally as someone who divided his time between a residence in Halifax and a residence in Portapique.

Taggart said he didn't know Wortman well, but spoke to him a few times when he telephoned about municipal issues. Taggart described knowing Wortman's "lovely big home" on Portapique Beach Road.