HALIFAX —
New information released by court order now reveals the types of firearms the perpetrator of Canada’s worst mass murder had with him when he was shot and killed by RCMP after his 13-hour killing rampage.
On the night of April 18, the killer set fire to several homes and killed 13 people in Portapique, N.S., before evading police later that night. Gabriel Wortman carried out his crimes while dressed as a Mountie and driving a vehicle made to look like an RCMP cruiser.
He went on to kill nine more people at locations throughout Colchester County the next morning. One of the victims was pregnant when she was shot and killed in her vehicle.
RCMP investigators had indicated earlier that the guns used by Gabriel Wortman in the killings were obtained illegally.
On Wednesday, new details revealed in RCMP search warrant applications, list the exact firearms found in the vehicle he was using shortly before he was killed by police at the Irving Big Stop gas station in Enfield, N.S. April 19.
Those details confirm the guns were illegally obtained in both Canada and the United States.
According to information provided by RCMP Sgt. Larry Peyton, two semi-automatic rifles were found in the vehicle. A Colt’s Law Enforcement Carbine rifle was engaged in the “fire” position, loaded with a full over-capacity magazine. There were three other over-capacity magazines present, designed to hold thirty rounds each. Sgt. Peyton sourced the firearm to a gun shop in California.
The second rifle was a Ruger Mini 14, also loaded with an over-capacity magazine. There was also three other such magazines present, each capable of holding forty rounds. That firearm was traced back to a gun store in Winnipeg.
The killer did not have a firearms licence. Over-capacity magazines for semi-automatic firearms are illegal in Canada.
“He had tremendous firepower,” says CTV Public Safety Analyst Chris Lewis, a former Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner. “He had as much firepower as the responding police officers had in terms of the semi-automatic rifles, with large magazine capacities, and handguns. The magazines alone were illegal, let alone the fact he wasn’t allowed to have any firearms in his possession.”
The new information also indicates the shooter had two pistols with him: a Glock 23 and a Ruger P89. Both were equipped with laser sights. The RCMP tracked both guns back to an unnamed gun shop in Maine.
The fifth gun in the shooter’s possession at the time of his death, was the Smith and Wesson 9mm issued to RCMP Const. Heidi Stevenson. The officer was shot and killed by the gunman during the intensive police manhunt.
Documents also indicate that Sgt. Peyton found a business card for a gun store in Maine while executing a search warrant at the shooter’s dental practice in Dartmouth. The card for Bob and Tom’s Gun Shop in Mattawamkeag, Maine, included the name, Bob Berg.
CTV News called the number listed for the gun shop. A woman who identified herself as Robert Berg Sr.’s spouse told CTV News she didn’t recognize the shooter’s name, nor had she heard about the mass shooting in Nova Scotia. She told CTV the shop closed down after her husband had a stroke several years ago. When pressed further, she hung up.
Last Friday, investigators charged three people – including the shooter’s common law partner and her brother – with unlawfully transferring ammunition to Gabriel Wortman.
Lisa Diana Banfield, 52, and James Blair Banfield, 64, both of Dartmouth, and Brian Brewster, 60, of Sackville, are accused of providing the shooter with .223-calibre Remington and .40-calibre Smith and Wesson cartridges between March 17 and March 18.
The allegations have not been tested in court. Police have said there is no indication the three had any prior knowledge of the gunman’s actions.
The newly released information does suggest the gunman behind the April mass shooting in Nova Scotia had planned to “get” someone in Halifax during his murderous rampage. Those details are included in a partially redacted statement from Lisa Banfield.
The documents describe how police in Halifax went to a residence, located her and another unknown individual, and “provided them security as Gabriel Wortman had not been located.
The details released Tuesday also include a statement from a witness described as a friend of the shooter, who first met him in 2011. That statement suggests the shooter had two crates of grenades “that he got from the U.S.”
The lawyer representing the families of those killed says there is some evidence to support that.
“Actually one of the family members found wooden ammunition cases at the Portapique site,” says Robert Pineo. “Of course that evidence has been preserved, but it was wooden containers, which most people understand, explosive devices are packed in wooden containers.”
Pineo says the families of those killed have a long list of questions they would like answered. He says so far, it seems those answers may only come through the courts, or in the forthcoming joint public inquiry.
“The really pressing ones, they would like to know more information regarding the killer’s escape from Portapique, more information about the lack of public alerts by some medium other than social, and more information regarding the days leading up to the massacre starting.”
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
