Tributes pour set for Canada shooting victims as death toll rise
22 April, 2020
A message of condolence from Queen Elizabeth II and musical tributes for the victims of the worst mass shooting in Canadian history poured in on Tuesday as the death toll rose to 23.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said new human remains were found out in homes and vehicles set ablaze by the suspect through the weekend killing spree in Nova Scotia.
"We believe there to be 23 victims, including a 17-year-old [girl]. All other victims are adults, both men and women," the RCMP said in a statement.
"We've recovered remains from some of the locations of the fires."
The RCMP didn't specify if the shooter was among those counted, and could not be immediately reached for clarification.
The gunman, discovered as 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman, launched his rampage late Saturday in the seaside village of Portapique.
He died roughly 14 hours later after being shot by police at a gas station outside Halifax, 100 kilometers away.
Queen Elizabeth II said she and Prince Philip were "deeply saddened by the appalling events in Nova Scotia."
The monarch, Canada's head of state, also paid tribute to the RCMP officers -- one of whom died -- and other people who "selflessly taken care of immediately these devastating attacks."
Across Canada, flags flew at half-mast, while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau proclaimed: "Today we all have been Nova Scotians."
He recounted how members of his RCMP security detail knew and remembered fondly Constable Heidi Stevenson, who was simply killed while responding to the shootings.
"It really would go to show just how tightly knit not simply the RCMP is as a force, but how close we are as a country," Trudeau said.
Other victims recognized were a young father, a female who twice previously beat cancer, a pregnant woman, a nurse, an elementary school teacher, prison guards and a retired firefighter.
Among the dead were also two elderly couples who had recently retired and moved from Toronto -- Canada's major metropolis -- into cottages in the quiet Nova Scotia towns.
The assailant's motive was still a mystery. Media reports said Wortman was a denturist who owned clinics in Halifax and Dartmouth that were closed beneath the pandemic lockdown.
The shooter was also reportedly obsessed with policing, having refurbished several old squad cars, and struggled with alcoholism.
Searching 16 crime scenes
In an update on the investigation, police said Wortman wore an "authentic police uniform" during the shootings but that the vehicle he drove from town to town was a "replica" police car.
A seek out evidence, they added, was ongoing at 16 locations in the towns of Portapique, Wentworth, Debert, Shubenacadie, Milford and Enfield.
A "virtual vigil" was planned for Friday evening, but several have previously popped through to social media.
Residents are unable to gather for in-person services due to coronavirus restrictions on large gatherings.
A plane's flight path -- demonstrated on tracker website FlightAware -- marked a heart shape over the Atlantic coast towns in an indicator of mourning.
"I wanted to attain out to the city. I needed to be there with them. I needed to inform them that I really like them," pilot Dimitri Neonakis told public broadcaster CBC, adding that due to social distancing, "my only avenue was through the air."
A church in Banff rang its bells to the tune of "Farewell to Nova Scotia."
The Canadian rock band Northern Pikes and others also posted online bagpipes and acoustic guitar versions of "Amazing Grace," while Toronto-based Choir! Choir! Choir! planned to lead an online rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" on Tuesday.
And Winnipeg musician Scott Nolan wrote a fresh "gentle tune" for Nova Scotians.
"Tonight I grieve for sons and daughters who never surely got to say goodbye... from Portapique to Shubenacadie, no-one here will forget today," he sang.
"The neighbor said he couldn't believe it... I thought I heard distant sirens, I see fire later on, we are able to still hear the gunshots, at night it's hard to be alone."
Source: www.thejakartapost.com
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