The Public Accident Commission, which conducted its public investigation into the killings, presented its findings on Gina Gulet’s death at a hearing in Halifax on Wednesday. On the morning of April 19, 2020, Goulet and her daughter, Amelia Butler, sent messages back and forth, sharing what they had learned about the situation in the community of Portapique, NS, where they heard people had been murdered the night before. They shared the latest on the movements of gunman Gabriel Vortman, including an RCMP tweet that he was driving a copy of a police cruiser. Goulet, a 27-year-old dentist who worked outside her home, knew Wortman, who ran a dentistry clinic in Dartmouth, NS The morning she was murdered, Goulet told her daughter he was on the edge knowing he was free. Another dentist held out his hand, prompting her to lock her doors, and Gule asked her daughter to keep her phone close in case she needed to call. She also urged her daughter to stay home and “wait until they catch him” before going shopping. Butler replied that it was difficult to know where he could go. “Haha as long as he is not here. I’m nervous. I hope they start blocking roads!” Goulet sent a message at 10:49 a.m. “Like I said, he’s a smart man, almost too smart.” That was the last message he sent. Goulet tried to call her daughter at 10:58 a.m., but when Butler got it, the line was disconnected. He later learned that someone had canceled the call. Twenty-two people died on April 18 and 19. Top left: Gina Gulett, Down Gulencin, Joulen Oliver, Frank Gulencin, Sean McLeod, Alana Jenkins. Second row: John Zahl, Lisa McCully, Joey Webber, Heidi Stevenson, Heather O’Brien and Jamie Blair. Third row from the 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)
Butler shared with the committee examining the circumstances of her mother’s death, as well as the circumstances of the deaths of 21 others during the 13-hour outburst, that she tried to call 16 times without luck the next hour. She and her husband were bypassed by a police roadblock on their way to Goulet’s home. A committee report summarizing what happened said evidence showed the gunman had been at Goulet’s home for less than five minutes, during which time he shot her several times and wounded her German shepherd, Ginger. The report states that the gunman first drove in front of Goulet’s house – which was off the road and surrounded by fields – before returning, according to a neighbor who saw the SUV driven to overturn. He stole Goulet’s gray Mazda 3 when he left. Goulet was a dentist working outside her home on Highway 224 in Shubenacadie, NS, less than two miles from the junction where Const. Heidi Stevenson and Joey Webber were killed. (Steve Lawrence / CBC)
About an hour after the phone call, the Butlers arrived to find that the chain gates on Goulet’s long road were unhooked. Gule’s son-in-law, David Butler, made the horrific discovery of her body. He later told police he told his wife: “We need help right now. There is nothing we can do, it’s not good.” Amelia Butler had already called 911 after seeing the blood outside and together they immediately sought help – lowering the Mounties parked at the police roadblock north to Highway 224, near where the gunman had just killed RCMP Const. Heidi Stevenson and Joey Webber. Arriving at Goulet’s home, police discovered that a side door had been forcibly opened and there were blood-stained pieces of police uniform thrown on Goulet’s grass: a gray RCMP-marked shirt, a phosphorescent vest and a dark vest. Weber’s silver SUV, which had been stolen by the gunman, was parked behind the house. Investigators later found that he was not visible from the road where members of the RCMP tactical team had been driving – sweeping the streets – after leaving the previous crime scene 1.8km away, the commission said. It is not clear if the gunman was still on the property when they passed. The RCMP believes the gunman was wearing parts of an authentic RCMP uniform while traveling in rural Nova Scotia and killed people on April 18 and 19, 2020. Investigators found some of the clothes on Goulet grass. (Nova Scotia RCMP)
Inside Webber’s vehicle was a Correctional Services Canada jacket and blue trousers with a yellow stripe, similar to the one worn by RCMP. Although it is not clear exactly how the gunman got the items, earlier that Sunday morning he had killed Sean MacLeod and Alanna Jenkins, who were working as directors in Nova Scotia prisons. Rescuers ended up treating Goulet’s daughter in shock. She had gone to her mother’s house and realized that there was no way to save her. That night, after Butler was discharged from the hospital, she began searching for information about Gulett’s dogs, and eventually learning from a neighbor that police had taken Ginger to a clinic in Dartmouth.

Challenges of obtaining information

She and her husband later told the committee that it was an ongoing challenge to get details from the police – from whether Goulet’s house was still a crime scene, to where her body was, to details of what exactly happened to her. “In the days that followed, no police officer ever contacted Amelia and Dave to confirm that Gina was dead,” according to a summary of a meeting the couple had with the commission. “No one approached them to confirm anything. It was obvious to Amelia and Dave that this had happened, but no one confirmed it.” The committee was told that they later found bullets in a closet and a drawer in the tiny bathroom where Goulet’s body was found. They said it was frustrating that police had not done a better home search and made them lose faith in the RCMP. The committee did not reach any conclusions as to why the shooter targeted Goulet, but a fellow dentist recalled a previous meeting between the gunman and Goulet that distinguished her. Debbie MacDonald later told police investigators she had seen an “embarrassing” exchange at a dental conference in Dartmouth in September 2019, where Goulet insulted Wortman. “She said something and Gina said, ‘Oh, for Gabe’s you don’t know that,’ or something like that,” McDonald said. “My eyes widened and it was as if I knew I was putting him in a difficult position and he knew it and I liked it because we made eye contact and he said, ‘Well, it’s King Gabe, what is he going to do?’ and left”. Amelia Butler told police on April 21, 2020, she recalled hearing that the gunman had once asked if Goulet wanted to work with him, but never heard that her mother had a conflict with him. Fellow dentists told RCMP investigators that Goulet probably taught the gunman while studying at Nova Scotia Community College. He may have sold him equipment when he started his business in Dartmouth and they enrolled in the same training program in 2019, according to the committee records.