RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki says it’s “possible” that Mounties could have saved more lives by alerting the public sooner to the fact that the Nova Scotia gunman was masquerading as a police officer.
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RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki says it’s “possible” that Mounties could have saved more lives by alerting the public sooner that the Nova Scotia gunman was masquerading as a police officer.
At least 22 people — including an RCMP officer — were killed in the shooting that lasted 13 hours and spread across 16 locations in rural Nova Scotia on the weekend.
In an interview with As It Happens host Carol Off on Friday, Lucki said the Nova Scotia RCMP made the best decisions they could with the information they had, but promised there would be a review of how officers responded to the attack. Here is part of their conversation:
Commissioner, first of all, please accept our condolences for the loss of your constable, Heidi Stevenson.
Thank you so much, Carol. I tell you, it’s been overwhelming, the response from Canadians, from retired members, from people in the community sending their well-wishes and their condolences. It’s been absolutely overwhelming.
Her funeral was held today. What message would you send to your members who are affected by this loss?
It’s a different world with COVID, and all the rules that we follow to mourn are not there. That’s not our normal anymore.
But … if they need help, they need to get help. There’s no stigma attached to getting help. And we need to make sure everybody and anybody who’s affected … they get help.
Because sometimes they might not even be in Nova Scotia. And sometimes it’s just their past experience. Something gets triggered. So they need to recognize that and not be afraid to ask for help.
A lot of Mounties who are in the Moncton area certainly are reliving grief, having remembered what happened to three of their members who were killed, and two wounded, [in 2014].There were a number of lessons that were to have been learned from what happened in Moncton. I wonder if they were applied here. I’m wondering, first of all, if you know if Const. Stevenson — as was understood that should happen after Moncton — did she have armour? Was she wearing body armour, and did she have a carbine with her?
She had a carbine. The hard body armour, I’m not sure. I know that all members, when the call came in … they were advised to put their hard body armour on. I just don’t know for sure if she had hers on.
This man took her side arm. Do you know if the carbine was with her in the vehicle?
It was originally, yes.
Farewell to Nova Scotia is performed by Lennie Gallant. 4:02
And what other of the lessons that were learned from Moncton do you think that you [employed]?
One lesson that we did learn — and it’s funny, we