RCMP Opens Investigation into Officers After Nova Scotia Mass Shooting

CBC News

On Apr. 18 and 19, 2020, Gabriel Wortman opened fire in 16 locations in Nova Scotia. Over the course of his 13-hour rampage, 22 people were killed and three more were injured before Wortman was gunned down by the RCMP.

Soon after the mass shooting, multiple RCMP officers present on the day of the shooting were accused of mishandling a 2017 murder. Greg Wiley is one of them.

In the summer of 2017, Susie Butlin reported Ernest Ross Duggan to RCMP for sexual harassment and assault. Wiley was assigned to her case. After a lack of evidence, Wiley simply suggested for Butlin to block Duggan on Facebook.

Days later, the RCMP received a phone call from Duggan’s wife, April Duggan, who reported that Duggan was “going to kill” Butlin. She presumed that he was going to buy weapons.

Const. Stuart Beselt and Const. Rodney MacDonald—both of whom would be present at the 2020 mass shooting scene—were called to help.

The two found an intoxicated Duggan who claimed that he would “never hurt anyone”. Soon after the two officers left to speak with April Duggan and Susie Butlin, Ernest Ross Duggan was arrested for impaired driving.

On Sept. 14, 2017, Butlin complained to RCMP about how poorly her case was handled. Three days later, Butlin was found dead in her home. Ernest Ross Duggan later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

Butlin’s original case report was submitted as a redacted form, because it was “unilaterally decided as irrelevant to the work of the commission.”

However, lawyers found it difficult to work on the RCMP case without knowing the officers who were involved, so RCMP decided to release a full report with all the names.

In 2010, seven years before Butlin’s case, Wiley was assigned to search the property of Gabriel Wortman for weapons of illegal possession after he threatened to kill his parents. When Lisa Banfield, Wortman’s former partner, testified for the mass shooting case in July 2020, she informed investigators that Wiley approached their door asking about said weapons and was shown antique guns during that ten-minute house visit instead.

Sergeant Cordell Poirier, who first took charge of the weapon-complaint case, appointed Wiley the job of inspecting Wortman’s home. Poirier had expected to receive a report on Wiley’s findings but never did. In Poirier’s own report, he noted Wiley as a “friend” of Wortman’s.

In a 2021 interview, Wiley told investigators that he and Wortman had brief “chinwags,” describing a friendly chat, during the house visit and that he had visited the 2020 mass shooter around 15 times in the “ballpark” over the years, but had not suspected anything.

Wiley and Wortman’s amiability ranged from quick driveway conversations to indoor visits. Wiley stated that he believed Wortman would be a good source of information about the violence around the neighbourhood.

Current investigators find Wiley suspicious as he was one of the people who knew Wortman the best in a time of uncertainty and doubt. However, when Wiley reported onto the mass shooting scene on April 19, he recalled being “stunned.”

Two of the three officers involved in both cases have been interviewed. Wiley testified on Sept. 6, 2022—the testimony was not broadcasted.