Virtual vigil planned for Canada's worst shooting
A national virtual vigil will be held this week to honour almost 20 victims of Canada's deadliest shooting, which unfolded in Nova Scotia as the province was locked-down due to coronavirus.
Virus restrictions continue and authorities said they might not be lifted to allow public gatherings to mourn victims.
At least 18 persons were shot dead by a gunman throughout a 12-hour weekend rampage.
The gunman was killed by police.
Who were the victims?
In the weeks leading up to her death, Heather O'Brien was busy caring for the elderly through the provincial-wide lockdown.
"First day off after 6 back tomorrow. First day I allowed myself to relax an inch," she wrote on her Facebook page on 9 April.
"My small space in life is marching on. I understand atm [at the moment] all I really like and cherish are ok. I am truly blessed."
Ten days later, Ms O'Brien will be killed near her hometown of Debert, Nova Scotia whenever a gunman disguised as a policeman killed at least 18 people, burning several buildings before dying in a shoot-out with police.
Ms O'Brien's daughter Darcy Dobson said on Facebook that "a monster" murdered her mother.
"The pain comes and goes into waves. Personally i think like I'm beyond my body. This can not be real. At 9:59 am she sent her last text to your family group chat. By 10:15 she was gone," she wrote Sunday evening, about ten hours after her mother was killed.
Ms Dobson said she wants "everyone to remember how kind she was" and just how much she loved being a nurse and a grandmother, not "the horrible way that she died".
Ms O'Brien had continued to work on the front lines through the Covid-19 pandemic, as a home-care nurse with the non-profit Victorian Order of Nurses (VON), with whom she have been useful for 17 years. Another VON employee, Kristen Beaton, was also killed through the shooting.
Ms Beaton, worked for VON as an ongoing care assistant and have been face to face when she was killed, according to her neighbour Penny Marchbank.
She was married and had a young child.
"Kristen Beaton however will go on with all of the wonderful things she has done in her short lifetime and the a large number of lives she's effected in so many loving and wonderful ways," her neighbourM said on Facebook.
VON president and CEO Jo-Anne Poirier told the BBC: "Our frontline care providers are heroes. Yesterday, two of these heroes, Heather O'Brien and Kristen Beaton, were extracted from their own families, and from VON. We mourn their loss, and we mourn because of their families".
Constable Heidi Stevenson, who had served in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for 23 years, was working when she was killed.
"Constable Stevenson died protecting others, she was answering the decision of duty, something she have been doing with the RCMP for 23 years," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday during his daily press briefing.
"With unwavering courage & compassion, the RCMP patrol these roads to keep us safe as they have for more than 100 years."
Jenny Kierstead confirmed on Facebook that her sister, Lisa McCully, a mother of two, was also among the victims.
McCully have been a school teacher at Debert Elementary School, based on the school's website.
"Our hearts are broken today as we try to accept the increased loss of my sister, Lisa McCully, who was among the victims of the mass shooting in Portapique last night," she wrote on Facebook.
"Our condolences venture out to the other family members who are influenced by this tragedy. Many thanks for your support, it's a hard day."
Not absolutely all the victims - all adult women and men, according to police - have already been named.
The CBC reported that correctional officer Sean McLeod and his partner Alanna Jenkins were among the victims.
An online fundraiser has been create to help purchase the funeral costs of a family group of three, Jolene Oliver her husband Aaron (Friar) Tuck and their daughter Emily Tuck.
Ms Oliver's sister Tammy Oliver-McCurdie started the fundraiser, and says her niece was 17 years old, played the fiddle and enjoyed fixing cars with her dad.
Married couple Jamie Blair and Greg Blair were killed Sunday, according to a member of family.
"My family has been through so much, nobody should have ever endured to cope with this. I really like both of you so much, & sending all my wish to my family & every other families who lost someone today," said Jessica MacBurnie on Facebook.
THE WORLD and Mail reported that Corrie Ellison, a social worker worker in his 40s, was also among the victims.
Charlene Bagley said her father, Tom Bagley, died while checking in on an explosion that was allegedly due to the gunmen.
"He died trying to greatly help, which if you knew him, you knew that was just who he was continuously. I understand he meant something to a lot of people," she said on Facebook.
What do authorities find out about the shooting?
The deadliest shooting in modern Canadian history unfolded over 12 hours at the weekend, beginning on Saturday nearby the rural town of Portapique.
Little is known in what motivated the suspected shooter, 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman, or how he chose his victims.
At about 23:32 local time on Saturday (02:32 GMT on Sunday), officers responded to a "firearms complaint" at a home and advised residents to lock themselves indoors.
The officers found "several casualties" outside and inside the home, but didn't find the suspect.
A neighbour told CBC News that he saw three properties were also burning in the area at that time.
The gunman was discovered on Sunday after undertaking shootings over a string crime scenes that police said were "scattered across the province".
Authorities are in the first stages of the "extremely complex investigation", said Chief Superintendent of the Nova Scotia RCMP Chris Leather.
Including the suspect, there are several 19 victims across 16 crime scenes, including five structure fires, Mr Leather said on Monday.
"We believe there might be victims within the remains of these homes which burned to the bottom," Mr Leather said.
Some victims were recognized to the suspect but others were selected randomly, Mr Leather said, though he'd not elaborate on the type of these relationships.
At some points in the 12-hour rampage, the suspect travelled in an automobile made to appear to be an RCMP cruiser. The replica looked "identical in every way" to an real one, Mr Leather said.
He also wore an RCMP uniform, either an "actual uniform or very good facsimiles", he said.
"The fact that individual had a uniform and a police car at his disposal certainly speaks to it not being truly a random act."
RCMP officials say more victims could be determined in the remains of a number of the burnt-out buildings.
Because of provincial restrictions on public gatherings put in location to stop the spread of Covid-19, there may be no mass public vigil.
Instead, a national online vigil will be held on Friday evening, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he'll attend virtually.
"As we find out about what happened yesterday, it important that people come together to support communities," he said Monday.
Mr Trudeau said that his Liberal party was "on the verge" of introducing bans to assault style weapons before parliament was dissolved amid the coronavirus outbreak.
"We've every intention of continue", after the outbreak is curbed, he said.
