A gunman disguised as a police officer killed 16 people during a 12-hour rampage in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia on April 19. The attack is the deadliest act of mass murder Canada has seen in over 30 years.  

The gunman went on a rampage, shooting people in their homes and setting fires. A police officer was also killed in the attack. 

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police identified the gunman as 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman, who worked as a denturist. Wortman was killed during the encounter with police. 

Police found several bodies at a house in the rural town of Porapique, which is about 100kms from Halifax. This was called the first scene by the authorities. 

Wortman then went on shooting people at several locations in the Atlantic province. 

The incident occurred at a time when the country is under lockdown to slow the spread of Coronavirus. The dreaded infection has already claimed 4,90,000 lives and infected 9.63 million across the globe. 

Mass shootings are relatively rare in Canada. The country overhauled its gun-control laws after gunman Marc Lepine killed 14 women and himself at Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique college in 1989. Before this weekend’s rampage, that had been the country’s worst.It is now illegal to possess an unregistered handgun or any kind of rapid-fire weapon in Canada. The country also requires training, a personal risk assessment, two references, spousal notification and criminal record checks to purchase a weapon.”As a country, in moments like these, we come together to support one another. Together we will mourn with the families of the victims, and help them get through this difficult time,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a written news release.