Warning: This story contains graphic depictions of child abuse and domestic violence.Gabriel Wortman, who shot and killed 22 people during a 13-hour rampage in Nova Scotia, experienced extreme childhood abuse and neglect, according to a new report by the public inquiry looking into the April 2020 killing spree.The report is based on police interviews with the gunman’s family, friends and acquaintances.
It echoes past reporting by Global News that details a legacy of alleged violence in the Wortman family going back at least four generations.
N.S. mass shooting inquiry warns this week will cover ‘difficult’ material Multiple people who knew the gunman, including his common-law spouse and an uncle, told police that his father, Paul Wortman, forced him to commit violence when he was a “little boy.”“Paul didn’t think he was taking care of the dog as well as he should have.
So he made (Gabriel) shoot his dog,” the gunman’s uncle, Neil Wortman, said during an interview with police. “What does that do to a kid?”Neil and another uncle, Glynn Wortman, told police their brother Paul pointed a gun at his wife Evelyn Wortman’s head and threatened to kill her if she ever left him.“My understanding was when (Gabriel) was a little boy, (Paul) held a gun to (his) head and then to Evelyn’s,” Glynn said. “But then Paul denied that story.”The report was completed as part of the inquiry’s mandate to examine the role of gender-based and intimate partner violence in the killing spree.