In an effort to discover if Nova Scotia’s rampage killer had any assistance in planning his April murder spree, the RCMP is tracking down all calls made on the phones at the gunman’s two denture clinics for more than a year before the murders, and for two days afterwards.
The RCMP asked a court to order the phone company that provided the business lines of the shooter to turn over its call data, according to new RCMP documents released Friday by a judge’s order.
“This information will assist in determining if there are any co-conspirators to this tragic event.”
The gunman's common-law spouse told police he did not have a cell phone, the police affidavit continues, “so any contact made that evening and prior would be from the landline telephone numbers that he had access to.”
The production order, authorized by justice of the peace Kelly Shannon, was issued on April 24.
The gunman, 51, owned and operated two denturist clinics in Nova Scotia — one on Portland St. in Dartmouth and one on Novalea Dr. in Halifax.
The additional details on the RCMP’s investigation into the worst mass killing in Canada’s history come in response to a court challenge for information launched by a consortium of news organizations, including Postmedia.
The latest internal RCMP document is an affidavit outlining information police have in their possession, and the reasons why they believe the additional information from Bell is necessary.
No information regarding the results of the order has been released at this time, but the media’s challenge for access to information continues.
The documents stem from the RCMP investigation into a 13-hour shooting rampage during which 22 victims were killed by the gunman, who wore an RCMP uniform and drove a replica RCMP cruiser. His rampage started with an assault on his common-law spouse. It ended when he was shot and killed by police the next day.
A preliminary police psychological autopsy revealed he was an “injustice collector” — someone who holds onto grudges until they boil over in rage.
Also released Friday were reasons why Crown prosecutors redacted out so much of the information in the documents already released through the media’s court application.
These reasons include claims that some would compromise an ongoing investigation; that some is information on innocent third parties; and that some is personal information on the victims, or about how they died.
The validity of the redactions will be discussed at future court hearings. The case will next be heard on June 30.
Some of the information previously censored was lifted Friday, when prosecutors were required to justify each redaction and found they had been heavy-handed.
There have been calls for a public inquiry into the shooting and the police response to the tragic events.
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