13 Hours Inside the Nova Scotia Massacre

Latest Episodes:

Communication Breakdown | 6 Jan 04, 2021

Show notes

Overnight on April 18 and 19, 2020, Nova Scotia RCMP were searching for a gunman who had murdered 13 people and lit buildings on fire in Portapique.

It turns out that police had been warned about the gunman nearly a decade earlier, when an officer from a nearby police force was told that he had a collection of guns and wanted to "kill a cop."

Police now say they had no record of that warning on the weekend of the shooting because it was purged from their records management system.

In this episode, ex-Mounties question what was done with the warnings about the gunman, and why local police forces close to Portapique were not called in to help with the manhunt that night.

We have much more on our website, including articles, maps, and photos:globalnews.ca/13hours

Instagram: @13hourspodcast

Email: 13hours@curiouscast.ca

Twitter: @SarahRitchieTV; @alexandrakress

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Injustice Collector | 5 Dec 21, 2020

Show notes

On June 4, 2020, Nova Scotia RCMP said that a psychological autopsy of Gabriel Wortman found that he was an injustice collector, "one who held onto conflict or differences with others, turning them inward until they boiled over in rage."

Police say they believe revenge was a motivating factor in the killing spree on April 18 and 19, 2020, but they also say some of the gunman's victims were targeted at random.

In this episode, we learn what an injustice collector is, and we hear from people who knew the gunman about his history of violence and disputes with others.

Experts say these events are part of a pattern of behaviour that should serve as a warning sign for authorities.

We have much more on our website, including articles, maps, and photos:globalnews.ca/13hours

Instagram: @13hourspodcast

Email: 13hours@curiouscast.ca

Twitter: @SarahRitchieTV; @alexandrakress

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Red Flags | 4 Dec 07, 2020

Show notes

Overnight on April 18, 2020, Gabriel Wortman was hiding out in an industrial area in the town of Debert, N.S.

According to surveillance footage, he arrived at 11:12 p.m., 27 minutes after police said he left Portapique.

But this is the point where the timeline of events becomes less clear; we don't know what he was doing in those overnight hours.

In this episode, we dig into aspects of Wortman's behaviour and personality that experts say were red flags: his vehicle that the RCMP said looked “identical in every way” to a real police car; his extensive police memorabilia collection; and, how he was reacting to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We have much more on our website, including articles, maps, and photos:globalnews.ca/13hours

Instagram: @13hourspodcast

Email: 13hours@curiouscast.ca

Twitter: @SarahRitchieTV; @alexandrakress

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Emergency Response | 3 Nov 23, 2020

Show notes

On April 18, 2020, police respond to several 911 calls from Portapique, N.S.

Gabriel Wortman has killed several of his neighbours and set some of their homes on fire.

The first police officers who arrive find several people dead and a massive response gets underway. Officers start setting up perimeters and call in specialized resources to find the gunman, but he gets away.

How and when does this happen?

And why don't police realize he's gone for hours?

As you’ll hear in this episode, the police theory of the gunman's escape has changed since the shootings.

We have much more on our website, including articles, maps, and photos:globalnews.ca/13hours

Instagram: @13hourspodcast

Email: 13hours@curiouscast.ca

Twitter: @SarahRitchieTV; @alexandrakress

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Stolen Dreams |2 Nov 09, 2020

Show notes

The first sign from the outside that something was horribly wrong in Portapique, Nova Scotia, was rush of 911 calls around 10 p.m.

Saturday, April 18, 2020 was an otherwise quiet night across the province. Much of the world was deep into the COVID-19 pandemic, sheltering in place to stop the spread of the virus. But the tiny community of Portapique on the Bay of Fundy became a waking nightmare as 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman began shooting his neighbours, and lighting homes on fire.

When officers arrived on scene they were met by a car speeding out of the area. Inside, was a victim who would become a key witness.

But within an hour of the start of the rampage, Wortman had killed 13 people.

He had also escaped.

And police had no idea where he was.

We have much more on our website, including articles, maps, and photos:globalnews.ca/13hours

Instagram: @13hourspodcast

Email: 13hours@curiouscast.ca

Twitter: @SarahRitchieTV; @alexandrakress

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A Shattered Quiet |1 Nov 09, 2020

Show notes

On Saturday, April 18, 2020 communities everywhere were on lock down to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the quiet, coastal town of Portapique, Nova Scotia, Canada.

But a 51-year-old denturist with a violent past named Gabriel Wortman was about to shatter that peace. On that night, he began a 13-hour shooting spree that would leave 22 innocent people dead at 16 different crime scenes across the province.

What started with an argument between Wortman and his long-time partner escalated quickly. Unimaginable devastation followed. When police arrived, several homes were burning and gunshots were ringing out.

Some police officers have described what they found when they arrived as “a war zone.”

But the terror and the true impact of his crimes were only just beginning.

We have much more on our website, including articles, maps, and photos:globalnews.ca/13hours

Instagram: @13hourspodcast

Email: 13hours@curiouscast.ca

Twitter: @SarahRitchieTV; @alexandrakress

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introducing 13 Hours Inside the Nova Scotia Massacre Oct 14, 2020

Show notes

The deadliest shooting spree in Canada’s modern history left us with far more questions than answers. Join Sarah Ritchie, a reporter for Global News in Halifax, as she tries to unravel how something like this could happen there.

Sarah will take you through every hour, as it unfolded and together you’ll try and piece together what happened, what could or should’ve been done to prevent it and what we can learn to make sure a tragedy of this magnitude never happens again.

13 Hours: inside the Nova Scotia Massacre coming soon

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