How families found out their loved ones were killed in N.S. mass shooting

Relatives of the people killed in the mass shootings across Nova Scotia in April 2020 waited hours — sometimes days — for information about their loved ones, often driving to crime scenes or scouring social media to get their own answers.

Some victims' homes weren't investigated until calls began mounting from family members, while the main RCMP liaison missed a meeting he'd made with one family, and on multiple occasions the proper next of kin weren't notified first.

"I could get no information. So had to learn everything I could over Facebook," Justin Zahl, a grandson of victims John Zahl and Joanne Thomas, told police in an interview after the tragedy.

"I'm just upset that I didn't hear earlier."

The Mass Casualty Commission leading the public inquiry into the mass shootings that unfolded April 18-19, 2020, released documents Monday detailing the ordeals of family members who lost husbands, wives, parents and children during the rampage.

With the sole exception of Const. Heidi Stevenson's family — who praised the RCMP for its "immediate and ongoing" support — many families of the 21 other victims said they had to plead with police for information. 

In the case of the Zahl/Thomas family, relatives called 911 and police detachments more than 25 times in 36 hours until receiving confirmation their relatives had been killed.

Justin Zahl lost touch with his parents late on April 18 and started calling the RCMP and 911 around 8 a.m. April 19. Other family members joined in as they sifted through social media posts that included a photo of the Zahl/Thomas home in Portapique burned to the ground.

"All I could see was my parent's car and no house," Zahl said.

According to inquiry documents, at one point on April 20, a woman talking to Zahl via FaceTime flagged down an officer holding the scene at Portapique. The woman held up the phone so the officer could speak to him directly. 

Zahl was described in documents as "extremely emotional" after 24 hours of promises from RCMP officers and dispatchers that someone would call him back. The officer radioed up the chain of command and was told no information could be given to Zahl at that time. 

At nearly 2 p.m. that day, the RCMP officer designated to act as the liaison to the families — Const. Wayne "Skipper" Bent — spoke to Zahl and informed him that investigators believed his parents were dead.

Jennifer Zahl Bruland, the oldest of John Zahl's four children from a previous relationship who lived in the United States, also got a call from Bent on April 20. She was not told her father and step-mother were dead but only that there were "a lot of 'scenes' and it was chaotic," according to a summary of Zahl Bruland's meeting with the commission.

The RCMP told Zahl Bruland they were unsure when they could fully process her parents home because they had a number of others to get to first, which left her feeling that their scene was not important to police.