Public inquiry calls for removal of 'highly sensitive' 911 calls from N.S. mass shooting
WARNING: This story contains details some readers may find distressing.
The public inquiry examining the circumstances of the Nova Scotia mass killing is calling for Frank Magazine to remove "highly sensitive" audio of 911 calls placed the night 13 residents were murdered in Portapique, N.S., including one by a child who witnessed his parents dying.
Several family members of people killed expressed outrage and anguish on social media after the tapes and transcripts of three calls made on April 18, 2020, were posted online Wednesday evening. The tapes were obtained by freelance journalist Paul Palango, who has been covering the mass shooting for Frank and Jordan Bonaparte's Nighttime podcast. CBC does not know who shared the calls with them.
The calls were made by Jamie Blair, her son who was 12 at the time and a man who lived nearby who was shot by the gunman while driving.
Jamie and Greg Blair were among 22 people killed on April 18 and 19, 2020, when a 51-year-old denturist masquerading as a Mountie shot neighbours, acquaintances and people he'd never met over the course of 13 hours in Portapique, Wentworth, Debert and Shubenacadie. He also burned three homes of people he killed.
The Mass Casualty Commission, the joint federal and provincial inquiry examining the circumstances of the tragedy, issued a statement Thursday saying it "condemns the access and posting of the highly sensitive audio recordings."
"We are extremely concerned for the privacy of those affected by the content, especially the child," the statement said.
Meanwhile, the RCMP says it is investigating whether the release of the recordings broke any laws.
RCMP condemns the release of recordings
Asst. Commissioner Lee Bergerman, commanding officer of the Nova Scotia RCMP, acknowledged that the Mounties have not been commenting on the mass shootings due to the public inquiry and lawsuits but said "given the heartbreaking effect on victims' families and on our employees, we are publicly condemning the publication of the audio recordings."
She said the force's family liaison officer has assured families they are looking into whether "the source of the recordings and any related offences that may have occurred with respect to unauthorized release, possession and subsequent publishing."
Police shot and killed Gabriel Wortman at a gas station in Enfield, N.S., on Sunday, April 19. By that point, he'd travelled nearly 200 kilometres and, during and much of that, he was driving a decommissioned police cruiser that he'd outfitted with decals, making it nearly identical to a real officer's vehicle.
The audio posted by Frank Magazine Wednesday night shows that the three callers told 911 dispatchers about a gunman and what appeared to be a police vehicle between 10 p.m. and 10:25 p.m., before RCMP officers arrived in the community. RCMP didn't share with the public that their suspect was disguised as a Mountie for another 12 hours, at which point the force tweeted a photo of the replica cruiser.
On the calls, Jamie Blair specifically said her neighbour, a denturist who drove police cars, shot her husband. Her son told the 911 operator the man who killed his parents pulled out of their driveway in a police car. The Portapique resident who was shot identified his neighbour by his first name.
Last fall, the CBC's The Fifth Estate reported that the man who lived in Portapique called 911 to report two fires on Orchard Beach Drive and relayed that there appeared to be an RCMP officer in a cruiser outside a home when it ignited.
In an audio statement the man gave to a private investigator working on behalf of victims' families, the man said he was on the phone with the dispatcher when the cruiser approached him and the person driving, who he recognized as his neighbour, shot him. His account is also included in search warrant documents unsealed by the courts.
CBC News also previously reported that Tyler Blair said investigators told him his stepmother was the first person to call for help at 10:01 p.m., reporting that her husband had been shot outside their home and that his younger brother subsequently called 911 for help from a neighbour's home.
911 system transfers calls
Nova Scotia's Emergency Management Office administers the 911 system and there are four call centres across the province. When people dial, they initially speak with a provincial 911 operator who then transfers them to police, poison control, fire or Emergency Health Services.
The audio excerpts published by Frank appear to be from when the callers first dialled 911, before the call taker determined they needed to speak with RCMP. In two of the calls, the 911 operators appeared to be communicating with a third person about the need for firefighters.
Brendan Maguire, the minister responsible for the Emergency Management Office, which oversees the 911 system, said this is the first time in 20 years that audio from a 911 call has been "leaked."
"It's very important that people understand the confidentiality around the 911 calls," he said.
"People are calling that have been assaulted, that are in some of the worst cases, worst states of their life, and the public needs to be assured that when they call that these phone calls are private and that they're being addressed."
Justice Minister Randy Delorey said his department was looking into whether to refer the release of the calls to the privacy commissioner to investigate.
Premier Iain Rankin said he did not listen to the calls and he would not comment on the information about the replica vehicle being shared early on April 18, 2020.
"It's important that we allow that independent arm's length process to unfold and they'll consider all of this," Rankin said. "We look forward to looking at the results and taking action wherever we need to."
The commission said people who are struggling as a result of the calls can contact a confidential provincial crisis line anytime of day or night at 1-888-429-8167.
"We understand that this is extremely difficult for many people and the content can be re-traumatizing," its statement said.
Last RCMP press conference 1 year ago
In the days following the tragedy, RCMP officials acknowledged they had received information about a police vehicle from the man who was injured in Portapique, but they stressed much of the information about their suspect came to them around dawn, when the gunman's spouse emerged from hiding.
"This included the fact that he was in possession of a fully marked and equipped replica RCMP vehicle and was wearing a police uniform," said Supt. Darren Campbell in an April 24, 2020, press conference.
When asked about when police determined the gunman was wearing a police uniform and driving a replica cruiser during an April 22 press conference, Chief Supt. Chris Leather said a "key witness," who was Wortman's spouse, provided information between 7 and 8 a.m. on April 19.
"Prior to that, we did not have all those details. The bulk of the details about our suspect came to us at that time," Leather said.
Police have also said that while they knew the gunman owned several decommissioned vehicles, they believed he had three and didn't learn of a fourth until they spoke with his spouse, Lisa Banfield.
Thursday afternoon, Cpl. Lisa Croteau reiterated these statements in response to questions from CBC.
"Fairly early into our involvement we learned of a possible suspect and that the individual lived in a home in the community of Portapique, " she said in an email.
Croteau said that Saturday night, the suspect's home and garage were burning as were two police vehicles located on his properties. But she said it wasn't until RCMP spoke to their "key witness" Sunday morning that they "confirmed the suspect was Gabriel Wortman and that he was in possession of a fully marked and equipped replica vehicle, was wearing a police uniform and was in possession of several firearms."
The RCMP has not held a press conference on their investigation into the mass shootings since June 4, 2020.
For anyone who needs mental health support connected to the release of the 911 calls, the commission has set up a confidential 24-hour crisis line 1-888-429-8167.
Nova Scotia is also offering 24/7 support through the Mental Health Provincial Crisis Line 24/7 at 1-888-429-8167.
With files from Kayla Hounsell, Michael Gorman and Jean Laroche
CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices
https://www.frankmagazine.ca/portapique911calls
The sneaky Fank dudes whimped out so I stepped up to the plate as usual
EXCLUSIVE: Portapique 911 calls reveal what RCMP knew from the start
Jamie Blair (family handout)
http://colchesterfuneral.frontrunnerpro.com/book-of-memories/4195389/blair-greg--jamie/obituary.php
by Paul Palango
In a 25-minute span on April 18, 2020, near the beginning of Gabriel Wortman’s murderous rampage in which he killed 22 people, three people called 911 for help. One was a desperate Jamie Blair, who had less than two minutes left in her life. Another was her 12-year-old son, who calmly and heroically, tried to tell the operator what was happening. The third was from Andrew MacDonald who, along with his wife, Katie, was ambushed by Wortman.
All three said the shooter lived in the neighbourhood. One called the shooter “Gabe”. Another said he was a denturist.
All three told the 911 operators that the shooter was driving a police car.
The RCMP has said from the outset that it didn’t know that Wortman was driving a marked cruiser until told so by his common-law wife Lisa Banfield, who purportedly had emerged from a night of hiding in the nearby woods.
The information is contained in 911 audio tapes provided to Frank Magazine and the Nighttime Podcast with Jordan Bonaparte by a confidential informant we are calling Deep Blue.
The time-stamped tapes are heart-wrenching and disturbing to hear but each one contains valuable information about what the RCMP knew at the time and strongly suggests that the force has been attempting to cover up that fact for reasons that are currently unknown.
Frank has decided to both report on the tapes and publish them online because it deems that the content contained in them to be in the public interest.
We acknowledge that the recordings are graphic. We encourage anyone who is squeamish not to listen to the tape.
Of the three 911 calls we obtained, two of them were provided to us in pieces. Digital audio software allowed us to put the pieces together.
The first call to 911 appears to have been placed at 10:01 p.m., as the RCMP admitted, but it wasn’t from the children. It was from 40-year-old Jamie Blair (JB) just before Wortman came upon her and murdered her. The call was time-stamped at 22:01:13.
JAMIE BLAIR’S CALL TO 911
911: 911. What is your emergency?
Jamie Blair: (inaudible) my neighbour (inaudible) been shot.
911: I'm sorry I can't make out what you are saying.
JB: my neighbour is (inaudible) fucked up, I think he just shot my husband.
911: You think your husband’s been shot?
JB: Yes.
911: Okay. Do you have a home phone or land line to that location, where are you?
JB: I don’t.
911: What is your civic address?
JB: 123 Orchard Beach Drive in Portapique.
911: 123 Orchard Beach, is your husband injured?
JB: I don't know, he is laying on the deck, I don't know what the fuck is going on, there is a police car in the fucking driveway.
911: There’s police cars in the driveway?
JB: There (inaudible) police car, but he drives...he a denturist and he drives..those police cars….
911: I'm sorry, did you say there were police car in your driveway?
JB: There is an RCM (inaudible) labeled RCMP (inaudible) if it’s a police car or if it’s not a police car.
911: Listen, you’re at 123 Orchard Beach Drive in Portapique, Colchester County?
JB: Yes.
911: You called from 902 (phone number)?
JB: Yes.
911: Is your husband injured?
JB: I don’t know.
911: Can you see him?
JB: He is lying face down on the deck.
911: Okay. Has he moved?
JB: I went back out to check on him and the man was coming back up on the deck with a big gun.
911: Okay, stay on the line and we’re going to the police don't hang up.
JB: (inaudible) anywhere?
RCMP: RCMP, Bonjour. Hello, can you see your husband from where you are?
The tape cuts off at this point. We do not know what is on the RCMP part of the tape.
It was around this point that Wortman returned to the house, found Blair and shot her numerous times in the face.
After he killed her, Wortman fired a number of shots at Blair’s children who were hiding behind a locked bedroom door. One of those bullets narrowly missed one of the boys. According to a source close to the family, Wortman yelled at the boys, words to this effect: “She should have died the first time.”
In the aftermath, bullet holes could be found around the house, through various windows and walls, in the soffit outside and in a garage door. Wortman pulled some burning logs out of the fireplace and placed them on the floor in a feeble attempt to burn down the house and possibly incinerate Jamie Blair. According to another source, in a bizarre move, Wortman placed hot dog or hamburger buns on a stove and tried to ignite them, before he left the scene. The Blair children came out of hiding to find their mother killed -- horribly mutilated and unrecognizable.
They put the logs back into the fireplace and then went outside where their father was lying dead face down on the porch. Their family dog, Zoey, a nine-year-old miniature pinscher, had also been shot, but would survive after being rushed to a veterinarian in Truro hours later.
One of the boys dug into their dead-father’s pants pocket and pulled out his cell phone, before they both gingerly made their way over to the McCully property, through a path in a patch of woods to the south. During this period, it has been previously reported, it appears that Wortman circled by the house twice, but didn’t see the boys.
McCully ushered the children into the basement with her daughter and son and then went to check what was happening. It was then that she likely came across Wortman, who shot her in the head on her front lawn.
The next call to 911 was logged in at 10:16:30. It was from Jamie Blair's 12-year-old son. He and Lisa McCully’s 12-year-old daughter were in the basement. Their younger brothers had left the house and gone outside.
The boy took charge of the situation. In a clear and composed tone of voice, he heroically attempted to explain the gravity of the situation to a male 911 operator who couldn’t seem to focus on the situation or the possible perils facing the four children.
JAMIE BLAIR’S ELDEST SON CALLS 911
911: Hello?
JAMIE BLAIR'S SON: Um, there is a crazy man, and he is burning down his own garage, he came over to our house, killed both our parents, and is burning down our house!
911: Ma'am where are you at right now do you know the address?
JBS: Yes, we are at our neighbour’s house in, in between... we are at … what's your address?
LISA MCCULLY'S DAUGHTER: (inaudible) 1-2…
911: Are you in Portapique?
JBS: Yes, Portapique! (inaudible)
911: K, Miss, miss, miss, I understand we’ve already got calls in for this area, you say there is a fire there now?
JBS: Yes, there is a huge fire.
911: Do you know which house you are at there in Portapique?
JBS: Um, 135 Orchard Beach Road…
911: 135 Orchard Beach Road?
JBS: Orchard Beach Drive. Do you know where Portapique Beach Drive is?
911: Yep.
JBS: I mean Portapique Beach Drive is?
911: Yes.
JBS: (inaudible) And then you take a left on the first one.
911: Okay. Is that where the fire is?
JBS: Yes.
911: Yes? Okay, just stay on the phone for me okay?
JBS: Yes, that's where we are and ….
911: Miss
JBS: The fire is right across
911: The fire is across the street?
JBS: Yes
911: So at 136?
JBS: Yes, wait, 135 Orchard Beach Drive.
911: That's where you are at, right now?
JBS: Yes
911: OK where is the fire at? Is it across the street?
LMD: Yes, it’s right across the street from us.
JBS: Yes, our house, my and my little brother’s house is 123 Orchard Beach Drive, right beside it.
911: 123, OK. And the fire is at 123?
JBS: He came in, he shot my father ten times. My mom was calling (911) and he came in and he killed her.
911: Okay. And where is she at? Is she still in the house?
JBS: She's dead. In her room.
911: In her room. Okay.
JBS: And she is burning. (inaudible) is on fire.
911: Okay, where is the guy who did this?
JBS: We don't know. He pulled out of the driveway and left.
911: Did you see what kind of vehicle?
JBS: It was a police car, I couldn't find, uh, I couldn’t find the license.
911: Okay. Did you see anything else about the vehicle. You said it was a police car?
JBS: Yes, it was.
911: It was?
JBS: Like a police car.
911: Ok, alright, so we’ve got police are on the way for the other part of this I'm going to put you in contact with fire. Okay we have 135 Orchard Beach Drive in Portapique.
JBS: Oh, and they shot our dog, and half of our dog is missing
911: Ok, 135 Orchard Beach Drive in Portapique, Colchester County. Right?
JBS: Yes.
911: Okay. Do you have a cellphone number or a number we can get you?
JBS: No. Alex, what’s your phone number?
LMD: We don’t have one.
JBS: We don't have one. Her mom went over there, and she hasn't came back.
911: Okay
JBS: We don't know where our little brothers are they went outside, I guess.
911: Okay, alright, you don't have a phone number or anything?
JBS: No, we don't.
911: Okay, alright, just stay on the phone for me okay, I'm going to put you through to fire for a second. Okay?
JBS: Okay.
FIRE DISPATCHER: Operator.
911: It's 911 Truro for Bass River fire. Alright, so we got a fire across the street from 135 Orchard Beach Drive in Portapique.
JBS: Yes! and it is huge!
911: Miss, Miss, just let me talk to her for a second, okay?
JBS: It’s a sir.
BASS RIVER FIRE: 135 Orchard Beach Drive and where?
911: In Portapique, in Colchester County. She doesn't have a callback number, uhhh there was an incident there with a shooting and everything involved so there are police and ambulance going there as well but the house was also lit on fire.
JBS: And there are more bullets (inaudible, crosstalk)
911: Miss, Miss, just one moment please!
BASS RIVER FIRE: Is it secure there for fire to go ahead?
911: Not at this point, we are still getting all the other resources together.
BASS RIVER FIRE: Once it's secure, we can send fire over.
KIDS: Hello?
911: Okay. Perfect. Will do. Bye. Hi ma'am, Miss, you still there?
JBS: Sir, it's a sir.
911: Okay. Just one second. Okay? I'm going to put you through to fire..er to police. One second. Okay?
JBS: Yes.
(Telephone rings)
RCMP: Hello, RCMP.
JBS: Hello?
RCMP: Hi.
Once again, the tape cuts off here. We do not know what is on the RCMP part of the tape.
Afterward the RCMP said it rushed to the scene, scoured the area for Wortman and went door to door evacuating people. That didn’t happen on Orchard Beach Drive and vicinity, where 11 of the 13 people murdered at Portapique Beach that night were shot. Nobody was evacuated. The RCMP told McCully’s family that the children were on the phone for two hours with RCMP members and support staff before they were rescued. In fact, previous communications tapes obtained by Frank showed that the children were left in the house for three hours before being rescued.
The RCMP also told the McCully family that the children were safe because the RCMP had members hidden around the house protecting them at all times. It was the same line that the force used with Nathan Staples who was on Wortman’s purported hit list, as well as at least one other person, who asked not to be identified. There is no proof that the RCMP actually did such a protective maneuver, but the McCully family, for one, continues to believe that they did.
Back to that Saturday night in Portapique. About four and a half minutes after Jack Blair was transferred over to the RCMP, another 911 call came in.
Andrew and Katie MacDonald had a cottage at the intersection of Portapique Beach Road and Orchard Beach Drive. They had noticed the raging fire burning at Wortman’s warehouse/man den at 136 Orchard Beach Drive and decided to check it out. As they drove toward the blaze, they were on the phone with 911. They then noticed that there was also a fire burning in the kitchen of Frank and Dawn Gulenchyn’s house. They saw a police car parked in the driveway of the Gulenchyn’s. They passed the Gulenchyn house, turned around and were heading back to it, still talking on 911. As they approached the house, the RCMP cruiser approached them door-to-door. Here is the transcript, some of which is barely decipherable. AM is Andrew and KM is Katie MacDonald. The call was logged at 10:25:31 p.m.
ANDREW MACDONALD’S CALL TO 911
911: 911, what is your emergency?
AM: Hi, I am calling from Portapique, there’s a house on fire down the road from our house. I just didn’t know if someone called already?
911: Yup, so you can see the house on fire?
AM: Yeah.
911: What's the address?
AM: It’s...I don't know the exact address but it's on Orchard Beach Road.
911: Okay, yeah we’ve got a few calls there, so Orchard Beach Road in Portapique, Colchester County?
AM: Yup.
911: (operator repeats the caller’s phone number and he replies with an affirmative) … and you see the house on fire?
AM: Yeah, we just drove down the road to check it out. But yeah, it’s like a big garage. it's one of our neighbours, so, he is probably not there.
911: Okay, just one moment I'm just gonna connect you to fire to make sure, okay, just one moment.
AM: Yeah
911: (calls fire department) 911 Truro calling for a fire call for Bass River Fire, you got the call there. We believe it's 123 Orchard Beach Road?
KM: Oh my God…
(crosstalk)
911: …yeah, it should be close to that area, Orchard Beach Drive in Colchester County?
(crosstalk)
AM: There's another house on fire here.
911: (to fire department) He’s on the road there and he can see. You see two houses on fire?
AM: Yeah, we just drove by another house, and their whole kitchen is on fire…
KM: What the fuck?
AM: …there is a police officer in the driveway.
FIRE DISPATCH: RCMP are you aware of the situation that is going on -- on that road?
911: Yeah, he's saying there are two houses now on fire so...just thought we would update you there.
FIRE DISPATCH: Ok.
911: And he’s at (phone number). Are the two houses beside each other sir?
AM: No, they are down the road…
911: Down the road from each other?
(inaudible)
AM: Yeah. And there’s a police officer parked at this driveway, so I don't know what... like he is coming around I don't know if he is going to talk to me or what?
911: Is it safe for him to be on that road right now?
AM: Hi … Hi.
(loud gunshot)
911: Sir?
KM: Oh God (screaming) oh God!
911: Sir?
(Sound of vehicle accelerating)
AM: I’ve been shot. I’ve been shot.
911: Fire, are you aware there are possibly a second fire?
KM: What the fuck is happening?
AM: It’s my neighbor Gabe, he just shot me in the arm.
KM: Please help us …. 911!!!
The tape we were provided ends here.
The MacDonalds raced up Orchard Beach Drive and then came into contact with the first RCMP officer on the scene, Constable Stuart Beselt. They relayed to him what had happened and, as previously reported, Beselt apparently radioed his dispatcher the information about Wortman being dressed as a police officer and driving an RCMP car.
The 911 tapes do not tell the whole story, obviously, because we haven’t yet seen the RCMP side of the story. That being said, one senior police officer who heard the tapes says the conduct of the 911 operators was, at best, questionable.
“They are staying calm and controlled, so calm and controlled that they aren’t listening to the situation,” said the veteran cop.
“You can see them checking off a list entirely unaware that some children are trapped in a basement and that a demonic killer is not that far away from them. He could come back at any time. By the time the kids called, they already knew that people had been murdered next door. There’s no sense of urgency.”
The tapes strongly suggest that the RCMP has, from the outset, been playing games with the families, the public and, likely, the courts and governments. From Jamie Blair’s call at 10:01, the RCMP appeared to do everything it could to downplay any information about Wortman, his police uniform and his RCMP lookalike cruiser.
For example, it didn’t issue its first Tweet about the incident until a full one hour and 31 minutes after Jamie Blair’s call – at 11:32 p.m:
#RCMPNS is responding to a firearms complaint in the #Portapique area. (Portapique Beach Rd, Bay Shore Rd and Five Houses Rd.) The public is asked to avoid the area and stay in their homes with doors locked at this time.
The next morning the RCMP stated that it first learned that Wortman had a replica police car after his underdressed common-law wife, Lisa Banfield, emerged after 8 ½ hours or so in the woods told them so.
At 8:54 a.m. – almost 11 hours after Jamie Blair’s description was given to them, supported by the other two 911 calls – the RCMP issued this Tweet:
51-year-old Gabriel Wortman is the suspect in our active shooter investigation in #Portapique. There are several victims. He is considered armed & dangerous. If you see him, call 911. DO NOT approach. He’s described as a white man, bald, 6”2-6’3 with green eyes.
The RCMP, once again, forgot to mention that Wortman was dressed as a Mountie and driving a vehicle that looked exactly like a RCMP cruiser.
It wasn’t until 10:17 a.m. – a full 12 hours after Blair’s first call – that the RCMP admitted how Wortman was dressed and what vehicle he was driving:
#Colchester: Gabriel Wortman may be driving what appears to be an RCMP vehicle & may be wearing an RCMP uniform. There’s 1 difference btwn (sic) his car and our RCMP vehicles: the car #. The suspect’s car is 28B11, behind rear passenger window. If you see 28B11 call 911 immediately.
Still there was no public alert, no roadblocks and three more people would end up dying – RCMP Constable Heidi Stevenson, Good Samaritan Joey Webber and Wortman’s fellow denturist Gina Goulet, with whom he had had an affair.
One would think that all this would be the subject of the upcoming Mass Casualty Commission’s work, but the insider who supplied us with these tapes is skeptical about what the Commission will accomplish.
True Blue said that part of their motivation for coming forward is their personal frustration with the stonewalling by the RCMP, not only in this matter, but also in other cases in Nova Scotia in the past.
Finally, the 911 calls strike at the heart of the RCMP’s contention that it only knew about Wortman and the police car from Lisa Banfield.
That’s patently false, and raises serious questions about the nature of the force’s relationship with Banfield, whom the force has called a “victim” from the first week.
Now that we know a little bit about what really happened that night without the interference, deflection and deceptions of the RCMP clouding the issue, one can only wonder what more there is to know.
Finally, there is this. Over the past 14 months the RCMP have played games with the timeline, comically so in the first few days. It had problems nailing down when the first call had come in. At one point it was 10:15. At another it was 10:01. They even said, in so many words, that the children in the basement had made the first call at 10:01. They allowed the timing of Jack Blair’s call to be conflated with Jamie Blair’s first call – effectively making her and her tragic story disappear.
The use of conflation is an old RCMP trick to hide evidence. It’s something that we will see again in our next story.