In this final episode, the gunman is killed in a chance encounter with police at a gas station, ending 13 hours of horror in Nova Scotia. 

But this story begins decades before April 18, 2020. Family members describe a pattern of abuse in the Wortman family going back generations. And experts say there are links between childhood maltreatment and violence.

In fact, a history of childhood abuse and neglect is very common among mass shooters in the United States. It’s one of four commonalities that researchers call the pathway to violence. Experts say ending the cycle of violence for good is one way we can prevent mass shootings from happening. 

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Episode 12 begins with the story of the final hour of the killing spree, and the gunman’s final victim. A mysterious phone call alerted Gina Goulet’s daughter that something was wrong on the morning of April 19, 2020.

In this episode, we explore how the families of the victims are fighting for transparency and accountability, nearly a year after the shootings happened. They’re planning to sue the gunman’s estate, the government and the RCMP. And the families were key to ensuring that government called a public inquiry into the killing spree.

The inquiry will explore what happened and why, with a focus on the actions of the gunman and the police response. It will also consider the impact of gender-based violence and domestic violence, which experts say is key to understanding.

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This episode picks up the gunman’s movements through central Nova Scotia on the morning of April 19, 2020, as he drove toward Halifax.

A chance encounter put him in the paths of two RCMP officers. Constables Chad Morrison and Heidi Stevenson were planning to meet on the side of the road near Shubenacadie, unaware the gunman was nearby.

The gunman shot Chad, and then collided with Heidi’s car. He shot and killed her before murdering Joey Webber, who stopped to help. Then he stole Joey’s vehicle and drove away.

In this episode, we learn about other shootings in recent years in which RCMP members have been killed. Experts say the force is slow to change, and question whether it’s time for provinces and municipalities to create their own police forces instead of contracting the RCMP.

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Nova Scotia’s independent police watchdog, the Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT), has concluded two RCMP officers who shot at the fire hall in Lower Onslow, N.S., during the manhunt for Gabriel Wortman should not face criminal charges.

The SIRT report said the two officers who fired their weapons did so believing the person they were shooting at was the gunman. This is because he was dressed similarly to the gunman — wearing a yellow and orange reflective vest — and standing near a marked RCMP cruiser at the time of the shooting.

In this bonus episode, producers Sarah Ritchie and Alex Kress bring you the breaking news and explain what new information is in the SIRT report.

We also hear reaction once again from the firefighters who say the police “terrorized” them on April 19, and have never apologized.  

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On the morning of April 19, 2020, Greg Muise and Darrell Currie were preparing the Onslow Belmont Fire Brigade to help evacuees from Portapique, N.S. Suddenly, shots rang out and bullets sprayed the building, forcing them and others to run for cover.

They thought they were going to die at the hands of the gunman.

But it was the police who were shooting.

In this episode we break down what happened, second by second, as we describe what surveillance video captured. We also hear harrowing testimony from the firefighters about what they lived through that day, and from witnesses who saw it unfold.

More than 10 months later, the firefighters say they've never gotten an explanation or an apology from police.

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At 8:02 AM, Nova Scotia RCMP Tweeted that they were responding to an “active shooter situation” in Portapique. Five minutes later, they told other police forces they were searching for Gabriel Wortman, who was wanted for homicide and considered armed and dangerous. The police bulletin said he may be driving a fully marked RCMP cruiser and “could be anywhere in the province.”

But the public did not get that information until hours later. And in the meantime, Wortman’s killing spree continued.

In this episode, we meet four more victims whose lives were taken that morning before police warned people that he was driving a mock RCMP cruiser. Some of their families say an emergency alert would have saved their lives.

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In this episode, we hear from police on scene in Portapique for the first time through recently uncovered recordings of their radio communications. The recordings show police were having communication issues and navigation issues as they searched for the gunman in the early morning on April 19, 2020.

We also hear from Leon Joudrey, the first person to speak with the gunman’s common-law partner after she emerged from the woods. RCMP say she was a key witness, giving them crucial new information about his police disguise and his weapons.

Then our story follows the gunman as he leaves Debert and drives to Wentworth, N.S. We'll introduce you to his next victims, Sean McLeod and Alanna Jenkins.

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This episode begins more than a decade before the events of April 18 and 19, 2020, when the gunman travelled to Fredericton, New Brunswick to clean out the apartment of his "dear friend," Tom Evans.

People who knew them say their business relationship had a darker side; they had been smuggling cigarettes and alcohol into Canada from the United States for years.

After settling his friend’s estate, the gunman took home more than $200,000, and a semi-automatic rifle he would use in a terrible killing spree more than a decade later. And his relationship with Evans was a link to other weapons police say he used that weekend.

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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.

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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

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