Lawyer says 'petty feud' between RCMP, municipal police may have cost lives in N.S. shooting
CBC
A lawyer for the family of the last person killed in the Nova Scotia mass shooting says it seems the "petty feud" between RCMP and municipal forces impacted how the tragedy unfolded, and how many lives were lost.
Jane Lenehan, who represents the family of Gina Goulet — the final victim killed late in the morning of April 19 in her Shubenacadie, N.S., home — gave a final oral submission before the Mass Casualty Commission on Wednesday in Truro, N.S., alongside other lawyers.
"We don't care who started it," Lenehan said. "It's been astounding to learn that this petty feud between the RCMP and municipal forces — who does what better, who's trained better, who's better resourced — may have had tragic consequences for Nova Scotians on April 18 and 19."
The commission is leading the inquiry into the mass shootings of April 18 and 19, 2020, where 22 people were killed across the province by a gunman driving a mock RCMP cruiser and stolen vehicles. Their final report is expected by March 31, 2023.
Lenehan said it's been disheartening for her clients to hear throughout the inquiry that the poor relationship between RCMP and municipal forces has only gotten worse over the past two years.
The inquiry has learned that tensions have escalated due to disagreements over the mass shooting response, policing standards, tracking special services, funding and the emergency alert system.
Two examples that "could have changed the outcome of April 19 had the relationships between our police forces been better" included emails between the RCMP and Truro Police that morning, Lenehan said.
Documents released by the commission show Chief Supt. Chris Leather emailed Chief David MacNeil in Truro at 10 a.m. to say the Mounties had the gunman "pinned down" in Wentworth — which wasn't true.
During his testimony, Leather agreed in hindsight that the information was incorrect, but he never followed up with MacNeil because he was busy. RCMP did not update MacNeil before the gunman drove through Truro about 15 minutes after that exchange.
Lenehan said it was "inexcusable" that Truro police weren't told that the gunman's mock cruiser had been spotted heading south from Lillian Campbell's murder scene around 9:40 a.m.
"It left police in the dark about the danger headed their way," Lenehan said.
She added that if both agencies had worked better together, Truro might have been in RCMP briefings and would have known to be on the lookout for the gunman.
The second example was the RCMP's decision not to bring in the Emergency Response Team from Halifax Regional Police, Lenehan said, and station them in a key area like Truro.
The commission has already heard about the frustration those ERT members had overnight on April 18 when they were denied a request for more members to be called out and sent proactively to respond.
