By Canadian Press

More than 18 hours to find five N.S. mass shooting victims was ‘deficient’: lawyer

May 27, 2022 | 10:02 AM

HALIFAX — A lawyer for families of victims of the Nova Scotia mass shooting says an 18-hour delay in finding five bodies of those killed by the shooter is a sign of “deficient” policing.

A study released Thursday by the public inquiry into the shooting says “it did not occur” to RCMP supervisor Sgt. Andy O’Brien to drive to scenes other than locations where bodies were known to be and where fires had occurred.

The public inquiry has said a total of 13 of 22 victims were killed by the gunman in Portapique, N.S., between about 10 p.m. and about 10:45 p.m. on April 18, 2020, when the killer escaped through a back road in his replica police car.

However, the study says it wasn’t until 4:46 p.m. on April 19, 2020, that the bodies of Peter and Joy Bond and those of Aaron Tuck, Jolene Oliver and Emily Tuck were found on a small road called Cobequid Court at the southern end of the community.

The study also says one constable was ordered to look for “fatalities on front lawns,” adding that the constable stopped in front of Bonds’s house at 10:26 a.m. but didn’t enter.

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Josh Bryson, a lawyer the Bond and Tuck families, says the RCMP fell short by failing to order a house-to-house search sooner than they did, adding that police left desperate family members wondering about their loved ones’ fates.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 27, 2022.

The Canadian Press