Nova Scotia’s RCMP was initially reluctant to release a photo of a replica of a police cruiser driven by a gunman who killed 22 people in April 2020, fearing it could cause a “frantic panic”. The details come from an interview with an RCMP operations officer who responded to the April 18 and 19 shootings, conducted by the public investigation investigating the mass attack. Staff Sgt. Steve Halliday told investigators that during a telephone conversation at 8 a.m. with Communications Director Lia Scanlan on April 19, he expressed concern about the public release of the photo they had just received from the replica of the killer’s RCMP car. Halliday told investigators in November 2021 that he was concerned about how such a message would be sent, “lest, you know, (we) put ourselves in another danger.” According to the minutes of the interview, Halliday told Scanlan that he wanted to avoid “sending the public into a frantic panic and overloading the operators of the OCC (Operational Communications Center)”. These providers, based in Truro, NS, handled 911 calls. He went on to say that with so many police cars on the road responding to the commotion, he imagined that “anyone who sees a patrol car (will start) to call 911”. He said it was out of the question when “I was trying to frame” the way this information would be communicated. Eventually, the photo of the suspect’s vehicle was not released to the public until 10:17 a.m., about three hours after photos were obtained by Halifax Regional Police from a relative of the killer’s wife. Halliday told interviewees, “we knew we had to get it out,” referring to the image of the killer’s RCMP car. “But you know, none of us have ever had the experience of sending such a message to the public,” he added. “It was very heavy.” Before the RCMP Const. Heidi Stevenson was shot dead as she ran to support another officer who was shot, and asked to share a photo of the cruiser with the public. At 8:44 a.m., Stevenson is recorded asking superiors if they were considering distributing a media bulletin for the killer’s fully labeled Ford Taurus. Killed by gunman Gabriel Vortman in a shooting at 10:49 a.m. after the collision of their vehicles. Colchester County RCMP Regional Commander Al Carroll emailed the staff sergeant. Bruce Briers, director of risk at the Center for Business Communications, commented on Stevenson’s proposal for a press release at 9:08 a.m., saying that a public statement about the police car would not be made. “It was considered for the vehicle, but it was decided not to,” Carroll wrote. Briers replied seven minutes later: “Very well, I understand they may not want to be released.” It is not clear who Brier means by “them” in his email. In an interview with the investigation, Halliday said he was unaware of this conversation between Carroll and Briers. “It’s the first time I’ve heard of it and I’m shocked to hear it. I don’t think it’s accurate, honestly,” Halliday said. It is not clear from the police call logs whether the Business Communications Center in Truro was flooded with calls after the photo was finally posted on social media at 10:17 a.m., but investigative documents report two views of the perpetrator referred to police a few minutes after the image of the fake patrol was shared. At about 10:39 a.m., a police officer heard from his wife that her friend saw something resembling an RCMP drive through her home, driving south on Highway 2 in Brookfield. According to the document, he later told police that he thought he may have been the perpetrator based on “photos he had seen on the Internet”. Minutes later, the police officer received confirmation that no RCMP members were driving a marked car in the area. Then, at 10:42 a.m., another woman arrived at the RCMP to report a marked police vehicle heading for Stewiacke from the Brookfield intersection marked “B11” on it, the last part of the code she had used. the killer to mark his car. “He had seen the RCMP post on Facebook about the vehicle,” the document states. This Canadian Press report was first published on April 28, 2022. This story was created with the financial support of Meta and the Canadian Press News Fellowship.
