Warning: This story contains disturbing details
New details describe how the gunman who killed 22 people in the April 2020 massacre in Nova Scotia grew up in a home of violence and psychological torment, growing up to continue the pattern set by a father he hated.
The Mass Casualty Commission, which is leading the investigation into what happened on April 18-19, 2020, when Gabriel Wartman went on a rampage across the province in an RCMP model car, released new documents Monday about the violence in the Wartman family.
Police interviews with various members of Wortman’s family, as well as his estranged wife Lisa Banfield, described how the gunman was abused for years by his father, Paul Wortman.
“He never treated him like a little boy. He treated him like an animal,” Glynn Wortman, Paul’s brother, said in a police interview shortly after the massacre.
Gabriel grew up as an only child in the Moncton, NB area with parents Paul and Evelyn Wortman. He has one sibling, biological brother Jeff Samuelson, who Paul and Evelyn had in 1970 in the US and were given up for adoption at birth.
Samuelson eventually learned about his birth family and met his parents and the shooter in 2010.
According to the background document released Monday, the commission has yet to interview members of the Wortman family through its own team, despite attempts to speak with some of them.
A history of violence in the Wortman family
Inquest documents say Paul has four brothers: Neil, Glynn, Alan and Chris. The two youngest brothers, Alan and Chris, are retired members of the RCMP.
In his statement to RCMP after the mass shooting, Paul said he grew up in a violent family “[w]there was more going on here than screaming.”
Alan Wortman confirmed this in an interview with police and said that their father Stanley – the gunman’s grandfather – was cruel to the three older brothers, but not to their mother, himself or Chris.
In a letter to Samuelson after learning about his birth family, Neal outlined Wortman’s family history and how the abuse stretched back two generations to the shooter’s great-grandfather, George Wortman.
He wrote that George was “a tyrant who cruelly tortured his family” and that his children, including Stanley, were “severely off-centre”.
“All of them, to varying degrees, treated their wives and children in the only way they knew how – as their father would treat his family members. Abused children often become abused parents,” Neal said.
Paul Wortman’s brothers also described several incidents of abuse by his wife, Evelyn, and said Gabriel witnessed much of it. One brother said they never reported the abuse because they were all “terrified” of Paul.
Childhood incidents
The shooter’s childhood and Paul himself were the key to understanding the whole rampage, Glynn told police, adding that Gabriel was “twisted.”
There were various incidents that left their mark on the shooter, Banfield and others said, including one time Paul was driving his son alone on a dirt road and Gabriel was convinced his father was going to kill him.
Another time, Paul gave his son a gun and told him to shoot him.
In his interview with the RCMP, Paul said he “had a hell of a temper” and yelled a lot, but “I never hit Gabriel.”
Twenty-two people died on April 18 and 19, 2020. Top row from left: Gina Goulet, Dawn Gulenchin, Jolene Oliver, Frank Gulenchin, Shawn McLeod, Alanna Jenkins. Second Row: John Zall, Lisa McCulley, Joey Weber, Heidi Stevenson, Heather O’Brien, and Jamie Blair. Third row from top: Kristen Beaton, Lillian Campbell, Joan Thomas, Peter Bond, Tom Bagley and Greg Blair. Bottom row: Emily Tuck, Joy Bond, Corey Ellison and Aaron Tuck. (CBC)
Samuelson said Paul once told him a story about how, when Gabriel was about two and a half years old, Paul decided Gabriel didn’t need his favorite blanket anymore, “so he burned the friggen thing in front of him.”
Banfield and Neal told police that when the shooter was under 10, Paul made him kill the family dog.
“What does that do to a child?” Neil said.
During the rampage in April 2020, the gunman also shot several dogs.
Banfield said the shooter told her he didn’t feel his mother protected him from the violence. As a result, Banfield said the shooter “has no respect for women, and no respect for his father.”
The violence of a gunman against a father
The shooter grew up and went to the University of New Brunswick, where he studied psychology. There he met his first wife and would become a funeral director and later set up a dental practice in the Halifax area.
During a family trip to Cuba around 2000, the gunman attacked his father, Paul, who said Gabriel beat him until he was unconscious.
Banfield, who was also on the trip, said the fight started because Paul was denying how he treated the shooter as a child.
After the attack, Paul took Banfield aside and urged her to leave the shooter.
He told her, “I’ve been a bastard to my wife, I’ve been a bastard to my son, and Gabriel is going to do the same to you,” Banfield recalled to police.
Threats made to parents
There was another incident in June 2010 when the gunman called Glynn and told him he was going to drive to his parents’ house in New Brunswick to kill them.
Paul spoke with a Halifax Regional Police officer at the time, who is investigating the allegation, and said his son was in possession of several serious weapons, including handguns and long-barreled weapons, without a license.
But Paul himself hadn’t seen them in over five years, and without more information the officer felt he couldn’t get a search warrant.
When he spoke to police after the mass shooting, Paul said the massacre could have been avoided if “someone had been a little more pushy” about the threats.
Sagittarius medical history
According to medical records, the shooter was referred to psychiatrist Dr. Douglas Maines in 2000.
The shooter saw Mains four times. For these visits, the term listed under his table is “narcissistic personality.”
He also saw Dr. Cynthia Forbes in Fall River for hypertension in 2009 and reported a “history of alcoholism,” although the notes indicated he planned to stop drinking this summer.
At the time, Forbes suggested the shooter see a psychologist to help him deal with his stress, “but he wasn’t interested at that point.”
He did not return to Forbes until June 2018, and between then and January 2020 he visited her seven times for treatment of “benign hypertension”.
“He had a terrible upbringing from a very dysfunctional family. And, um, never sought help … and … fell through the cracks,” Chris said.
Chris also told police he always knew the shooter was capable of killing someone, most likely his parents or Banfield, “but not to this extent.”
“That Could Have Been Me”
Samuelson said that when he contacted his birth family in 2010, the revelation that he had a long-lost brother came as a “big bombshell” to Gabriel.
The shooter had to go through a “terrible upbringing” on his own, with no role models, Samuelson said.
Chris agreed, telling police he believed much of the animosity between the shooter and his parents stemmed from keeping his brother a secret.
“That could have been me up there if, ah, you know, if I had grown up in an environment like Gabriel,” Samuelson said.
On Monday, the inquiry is also expected to hear from a panel of witnesses on mass shootings and masculinity, as well as an expert on intimate partner and domestic violence.
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