As he broke down, Campbell said it was the first time he had cried in two and a half years. “I apologize for failing,” he said. “I’m really sorry we failed you and I promise we’ll do better.” Campbell testified Monday and Tuesday before the Mass Casualties Commission that led the public inquiry into the April 18-19, 2020 rampage, when a gunman shot and killed 22 people over a 13-hour period in communities across the province. Among the victims were a pregnant woman and an RCMP officer. At the time of the shooting Campbell was the support services officer, which is one of the RCMP’s highest positions in the province. He handled most of the public updates after April 19, 2020 and was responsible for bringing in critical incident resources such as incident commanders and the emergency response team. Chief Commissioner Michael MacDonald had a question for Campbell – one he said he was having trouble wrapping his head around. He wanted to know why members of the RCMP did not find the bodies of five victims at Cobequid Court in Portapique, including the Tuck and Bond families, until the evening of April 19, 2020. “Because in your experience, and you’ve reviewed it all, if you can help me understand, how is it that the priority for the threat seemed to have overwhelmed what was going on at Portapique?” Campbell said he was not on the ground that day and could only speak from his more than 30 years of experience. “My experience is based on one or two scenes, not 16 scenes,” he said. “In terms of the scope and magnitude of the situation and the confusion caused by the perpetrator … to establish the fraction of awareness of the scope and magnitude would take a considerable amount of time.” Twenty-two people died on April 18 and 19, 2020. Top row from left: Gina Goulet, Dawn Gulensin, Jolene Oliver, Frank Gulensin, Sean McLeod, Alana Jenkins. Second row: John Zahl, Lisa McCully, Joey Webber, Heidi Stevenson, Heather O’Brien and Jamie Blair. Third row from top: Kristen Beaton, Lillian Campbell, Joanne Thomas, Peter Bond, Tom Bagley and Greg Blair. Bottom row: Emily Tuck, Joy Bond, Corrie Ellison and Aaron Tuck. (CBC) Campbell said he was “not trying to make excuses” but has some level of understanding of the pressure on members responding that day. “I don’t know if anyone else on this research team has experienced anything like this – I doubt they ever have,” he said. “It’s clear to me that many feel that their best efforts were not enough. I wish I had seen that we would have identified these additional crime scenes much, much earlier.” Campbell said there are many reasons to secure a crime scene as soon as possible. In addition to keeping families informed, he said it’s also important to preserve evidence.
Other issues raised
During his testimony Monday and Tuesday, Campbell agreed there were lapses that ideally should not have happened, which is one of the reasons he asked RCMP headquarters for an independent review of its actions. force on April 18 and 19, 2020. He wrote a formal letter asking for that review, but Campbell said he got the feeling Ottawa was wondering if a review would duplicate the efforts of the Mass Casualty Commission. Rob Pineo, an attorney with Patterson Law who represents most of the families, suggested it would be helpful to interview Portapique resident Kate MacDonald, who was shot by the gunman but was not injured — unlike her husband, Andrew , who was taken to hospital and survived. Pineo said officers could have asked Kate MacDonald more about the possible route out of Portapique, given that the panel suggested the gunman escaped before 11pm AT on April 18, 2020. “I agree, yes,” Campbell said. The RCMP cruiser replica of the gunman used in the NS mass shooting was created with a decommissioned 2017 Ford Taurus. (Mass Accident Commission) He was also asked why police did not consider the possibility that the gunman was driving an exact replica of an RCMP cruiser, despite witnesses describing it as having lights and stripes in the first hour of the massacre. Campbell said what probably happened was human nature and “prejudice” built up through experience, as a replica car would be so unrealistic. In the future, he said it would be helpful for dispatchers, call officers and RCMP members to share exact witness statements when there is confusion, so details aren’t filtered through various interpretations like a game of telephone. Also, once the mock cruiser was confirmed, Campbell said Tuesday that he wished the public had been notified sooner. The inquest heard that despite pictures of the gunman and his vehicle going to the strategic communications team shortly after 8am on April 19, 2020, they were not posted on Twitter until two hours later at 10:17am.
