Nova Scotia shooting: Senior RCMP officer learned of killer’s replica car in the news
Global News
In the document released by the public inquiry, Lee Bergerman said she was first notified that something was happening before she went to bed around 11 p.m. on April 18.
The former RCMP commanding officer in Nova Scotia has told the inquiry into the April 2020 mass shooting that she first saw the killer’s replica police cruiser in a news report before she went to work on the second day of the rampage.
In a transcript of Lee Bergerman’s Aug. 2 interview with inquiry lawyers, the former assistant commissioner, who retired in October 2021, said she only had scant details early on April 19 of what had initially transpired the night before in the small rural community of Portapique, N.S.
On April 18 of that year, a gunman murdered 13 people in the community and then escaped in a replica police cruiser. The killer went on to murder another nine people the following day, before he was shot dead by police at a gas station.
In the document released by the public inquiry, Bergerman said she was first notified that something was happening before she went to bed around 11 p.m. on April 18. She confirmed that she learned the next morning about killer Gabriel Wortman’s replica car but was “stunned” when she saw it on the news shortly before she left home to head to her office around 9:30 a.m.
“I do recall being, I would describe, stunned at the when I saw the police car that they had,” Bergerman said.
She added that she was convinced that one of the RCMP cruisers had been stolen, so she called Chief Superintendent Chris Leather to ask whether that was the case.
“He confirmed that all of our police cars had been accounted for,” said Bergerman.
She said it was only after she made it to her office that she was informed that the photo had been provided to the RCMP by a witness.
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