The superintendent led the RCMP's investigation into the incident, and was the public face of the RCMP during news conferences in the weeks after the rampage. He said in future major incidents there should be dedicated officers who could review and re-listen to witness statements to avoid losing track of key information.Ĭampbell said the delay in interviewing two people who were fired upon by the killer until the next morning may have been due to concern for the health of one of them, who had been wounded. It was only after the killer's spouse emerged from hiding the next morning that responding officers were told the killer's car was an exact replica RCMP cruiser. certainly that would have made a difference," Campbell said. communicated we are looking for a marked police car, whether that was real or not. "If they (staff at the operations centre) had. The inquiry's lawyer, Rachel Young, asked Campbell about the failure of the RCMP to interview two eyewitnesses to the shooting until about seven hours after it started, and about incorrect assumptions that the killer's vehicle was unmarked - despite an initial witness describing it as a marked RCMP vehicle.Īccording to inquiry documents, staff at an RCMP operations centre relied on members' general knowledge that the killer collected unmarked, decommissioned police cars, and proceeded with that description. It was Campbell who deployed a critical incident commander to the scene after the killings began in Portapique, N.S., late on April 18, 2020, and he stayed in contact with RCMP officers on-site as the killer continued his rampage the next morning before being shot dead by police. with the objectives of determining what role Gabriel Wortman played, as well as (the role of) any individual who may have assisted him in any way."Ĭampbell didn't reveal the weapon details at the time, which only emerged after the National Post obtained them through an access to information request that November. We were still involved in multi-agency investigations. "We were nine days post the April 18 and 19 events. He said he spoke to the investigators involved and they agreed not to release the details.
But Campbell testified that releasing details about the semi-automatic weapons, such as their colour, type, serial numbers and calibre, would have closed down avenues for a criminal probe. Some gun control experts have argued the release wouldn't have had a significant impact on the investigation and would have allowed for public debate on the necessity of added gun control.
The superintendent's notes prompted opposition parties to accuse the federal Liberal government of meddling in an active investigation in order to advance a gun control law that was being prepared at the time.Ĭampbell told the inquiry that as a veteran investigator, he was firmly opposed to releasing information about the guns possessed by the killer, Gabriel Wortman. Darren Campbell was testifying before the public inquiry into the April 18-19, 2020, murders of 22 people by a gunman driving a replica police vehicle.Īccording to notes from Campbell tabled earlier as evidence, RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki criticized him for not providing the gun details during an April 28 press conference, saying she had promised the Prime Minister's Office the information would be released in connection with "pending gun control legislation." The Mountie in charge of the investigation into the Nova Scotia mass shooting said Monday it was a "no-brainer" for him to withhold details of the killer's guns nine days after the rampage.Ĭhief Supt.