Canadian police were yet to determine a motive for the country’s worst mass shooting, as the death toll from the 13-hour carnage over the weekend climbed to 23 from 19, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said on Tuesday.
The RCMP had said on Monday it expected the number of victims to increase as it investigates the 16 crime scenes in the Atlantic province of Nova Scotia that were part of the spree of murders, several of which included burnt-out homes.
The gunman, 51-year-Gabriel Wortman, who at one point posing as RCMP officers and undercover car to look like a police car, shattering the calm of rural people during a rampage that began Saturday night, authorities said Sunday.
He was shot by police at noon on Sunday. Police did not say whether he was counted among the 23 killed.
The youngest among those who died was 17 years old, police said Tuesday. Some of the known victims of the gunman, but the other did not. A veteran police officer, teachers and nurses were among the dead.
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Police said on Tuesday they had information that members of the public were injured.
RCMP said in a statement on Tuesday that the gunman had been wearing a police uniform authentic. His appearance as a legitimate officer has been credited with reducing the movement around the province during the shooting.
“The investigation team is focused on learning more about this very tragic situation, including victims of accurate information and whether anyone else might have helped the suspect,” said RCMP statement.
Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil told a news conference on Tuesday that the Canadian Attorney General told him that the military’s help in the RCMP investigation.
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