PORTAPIQUE, N.S.—Sirens shattered the silence of the small, rural farming community of Portapique, N.S., in the early hours of Sunday as police carried out a manhunt for a gunman on a killing spree who was driving a replica RCMP car.

Just east of the point where the Portapique River makes its last stretch across the tidal flats to reach the Minas Basin, police filled the streets and told frightened residents to lock their doors and stay in their basements.

When the sirens quieted and the flashing lights were doused, at least 17 people — including one Mountie — were dead. The object of that manhunt, 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman, was also among the dead, after police caught up with him at a gas station near Enfield, N.S., 100 kilometres away.

Police reported “several casualties” both inside and outside the home in Portapique that was ground zero for the shootings, and more casualties at “multiple locations” across the northern part of the province, about an hour’s drive from the New Brunswick border.

Const. Heidi Stevenson, a 23-year member of the RCMP and a mother of two, was killed during the shooting rampage. A second officer was also wounded.

The death toll makes it one of the worst mass shootings in Canadian history, surpassing the 14 victims of the 1989 Ecole Polytechnique massacre in Montreal.

It began late Saturday night, when police received several firearms complaints around 11:30 p.m. from residents of Portapique, about 40 kilometres west of Truro.

Officers responding to the calls found the shooting victims and began a manhunt for the suspect. The entrance to Portapique Beach Road was blockaded. Multiple teams, including officers from Halifax, joined the hunt. Helicopters scanned the roads from above and armed police roamed streets, that were deserted as residents observed self-isolation.

At one point during the evening hours, Wortman was wearing a “portion” of a police uniform, and was driving a vehicle resembling an RCMP cruiser.

He was spotted in Glenholme, Debert, then Brookfield, Shubenacadie and Milford, pushing east toward Truro, then south toward Halifax.

At a later point, police reported that he had switched vehicles and was driving a silver SUV. Police blockaded several points along the southbound Hwy. 102, heading to Halifax.

By late Sunday morning, the hunt was over. A half dozen police vehicles swarmed an Irving Big Stop gas station near Enfield. Yellow police tape surrounded the gas pumps, and a large silver-coloured SUV was being investigated by police.

A body was seen lying near the silver SUV. Police would not comment on the body’s identity.

“What has unfolded … is incomprehensible,” said Chief Supt. Lee Bergerman, commanding officer for the RCMP in Nova Scotia.

RCMP Chief Supt. Chris Leather told a news conference that the investigation is ongoing and it is possible more bodies would be found.

“We’re not fully aware what that total may be, because as we’re standing here, the investigation continues into areas that we have not yet explored across the province,” Leather said.

While not aware of the shooter’s motivations, Leather said the replica RCMP car would be an important part of the investigation.

“The fact that this individual had a uniform and a police car at his disposal certainly speaks to it not being a random act,” he said.

“Countless families are in mourning today ... the impact of this incident will extend from one end of the province to the other. As Nova Scotians, we have to do what we’re known for, and come together in times of need and support each other.”

Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil addressed the shooting Sunday before his daily COVID-19 updates, labelling the incident one of the “most senseless acts of violence in our province’s history.”

“I never imagined when I went to bed last night that I would wake up to the horrific news that an active shooter was on the loose in Nova Scotia,” McNeil said. “To the families of the victims, and to those who are still feeling afraid, my heart goes out to you.”

“We are all in shock that such a thing could happen here in Nova Scotia, and it’s a heavy burden to bear on top of COVID-19,” McNeil said. “But we must stay strong.”

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Peter Hodge, a 65-year-old retiree, lives across the street from the top of Portapique Beach Road, where Wortman was reported to have a house. He was woken at 1 a.m. Sunday morning by sirens and flashing lights.

“It was major, major league SWAT stuff going on,” he said. RCMP officers asked to look at Hodge’s security camera footage he said, but found nothing useful on it. Since then, he’s been getting most of his updates on the situation outside his door from social media.

Officers had been blockading the top of Portapique Beach Road since the early morning hours.

Christine Mills, a longtime Portapique resident, told the Star that there were helicopters, SWAT trucks, and squad cars swarming the community right at sunrise, with two Mounties stationed right outside her house, leaving only after Wortman, had been apprehended by police.

Mills told the Star that she knows where Wortman’s house is, but has never met him.

“It’s a log home right on the ocean side, not on the beach … but looking at the river. It was a big log home,” Mills said.

Donna Dominix, a retiree living in Portapique with her husband, said that on Saturday night, after reports of fires and gunshots in the area, the couple locked their doors, closed their blinds, and waited out the manhunt.

“I was up for a little while last night, and there’s lots of wooded area around here, so you didn’t know if this guy was on foot or in a car or what, so I was a bit anxious,” Dominix told the Star.

She said that Portapique, a small, tight-knit community of around 250, has never had an incident like this before, and that it’s an otherwise peaceful “drive-thru” of a town.

“It was devastating ... we don’t know what happened and why it happened,” Dominix said.

A Gabriel Wortman is listed as a denturist in Dartmouth, according to the Denturist Society of Nova Scotia website. A suspect photo issued by the RCMP matches video footage of a man being interviewed about dentures by CTV Atlantic in 2014.

Portapique residents who spoke with media either said they did not know Wortman personally, or knew him in passing as a part-time resident who divided time between the Halifax area and his properties in the community.

David George Crockett, who lives a three-minute drive from Portapique Beach Road, the area where the first 911 calls originated, said Wortman once fixed his teeth at his home in Portapique.

“I’m very surprised,” Crockett said in a brief interview outside his rural home as the sun was setting. “I never thought he would do something like that.”

“From what I knew of him, he was quiet, gentle and very easy to talk to ... He was very nice. He kidded around a little bit. He seemed normal, not like someone who would do something like this.”

Crockett said the horrific news that at least 17 people had been killed left him feeling overwhelmed, given the stress he and his family was already feeling because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s very depressing to see someone do something like this.”

With files from The Canadian Press

Ilya Bañares is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star’s radio room in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @ilyaoverseas Ted Fraser is a breaking news reporter in Halifax.

SM Steve McKinley is a Halifax-based reporter for the Star. Reach him via email: stevemckinley@thestar.ca or follow him on Twitter: @smckinley1

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