13 Hours Inside the Nova Scotia Massacre
This 13-part true crime series delves into Canada's worst mass shooting, the 2020 Nova Scotia massacre. Hosted by Global News Halifax reporter Sarah Ritchie, it chronologically examines each hour of the tragedy. The podcast seeks to understand what happened and what could have been done to prevent it, exploring the gaps in the official narrative. It provides a detailed, hour-by-hour account of the events and their aftermath.
Episodes
Introducing "Hostile History"
Since the dawn of time, humanity has been at war. Conflict in one form or another has been part of our existence since we first walked the earth.
In this first episode of a four-part series, join military historian David Borys as we travel back in time to Iran, where we chart how a modern monarchy, which was armed, wealthy, and globally backed, lost control. On our journey, we'l
July 2021 Update
The 13 Hours team brings you an update on what’s happened since the series wrapped in April. A local magazine has been publishing leaked information that some say may have come from a source inside the RCMP. That includes audio of 911 calls made by some of the first victims of the killing spree, who told dispatchers that a man driving a police car was murdering people in Portapique on the night of
The Pathway to Murder | 13
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 an
In The Dark | 12
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
Collision Course | 11
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 s
Breaking News: SIRT Report Released
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
Friendly Fire | 10
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,
Too Little Too Late | 9
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
Daybreak | 8
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 aft
Origins | 7
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
Communication Breakdown | 6
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
Injustice Collector | 5
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 target
Red Flags | 4
Overnight on April 18, 2020, Gabriel Wortman was hiding out in an industrial area in the town of Debert, N.S.
According to surveillance footage, he arrived at 11:12 p.m., 27 minutes after police said he left Portapique.
But this is the point where the timeline of events becomes less clear; we don't know what he was doing in those overnight hours.
In this episode, we dig into aspects of Wortm
Emergency Response | 3
On April 18, 2020, police respond to several 911 calls from Portapique, N.S.
Gabriel Wortman has killed several of his neighbours and set some of their homes on fire.
The first police officers who arrive find several people dead and a massive response gets underway. Officers start setting up perimeters and call in specialized resources to find the gunman, but he gets away.
How and when does thi
Stolen Dreams |2
The first sign from the outside that something was horribly wrong in Portapique, Nova Scotia, was rush of 911 calls around 10 p.m.
Saturday, April 18, 2020 was an otherwise quiet night across the province. Much of the world was deep into the COVID-19 pandemic, sheltering in place to stop the spread of the virus. But the tiny community of Portapique on the Bay of Fundy became a waking nightmare as
A Shattered Quiet |1
On Saturday, April 18, 2020 communities everywhere were on lock down to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the quiet, coastal town of Portapique, Nova Scotia, Canada.
But a 51-year-old denturist with a violent past named Gabriel Wortman was about to shatter that peace. On that night, he began a 13-hour shooting spree that would leave 22 innocent people dead at 16 different crime
Introducing 13 Hours Inside the Nova Scotia Massacre
The deadliest shooting spree in Canada’s modern history left us with far more questions than answers. Join Sarah Ritchie, a reporter for Global News in Halifax, as she tries to unravel how something like this could happen there.
Sarah will take you through every hour, as it unfolded and together you’ll try and piece together what happened, what could or should’ve been done to prevent it and what
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