[5] Police were criticized for not using Alert Ready to warn the public about the unfolding attacks, as well as not responding to reports of Wortman's previous behaviour and acts of violence.

Along the way, they passed by the house of a couple Wortman had shot and killed where they noticed what appeared to be a police car parked in front with its roof lights off.

[24] At 23:32, the RCMP posted a tweet saying it was dealing with a "firearms complaint"; it asked residents of the Portapique area to stay inside with their doors locked, as officers set up a search perimeter of 2 kilometres (1.2 mi).

[31] The RCMP later determined that Wortman had left Portapique at around 22:45, 19 minutes after police first responded, by driving through a dirt road along a blueberry field, which the officers did not block off.

[24] Wortman then began driving back south on Highway 4 toward Portapique at 09:23, and at 09:35, he shot and killed another victim while she was walking on the side of the road in Wentworth Valley.

[48] Wortman was recorded on surveillance video passing through Truro at around 10:20, and then Millbrook First Nation at 10:25, where he briefly stopped in a parking lot to exchange his jacket for a reflective vest.

[78] Wortman had previously pleaded guilty to assault in 2002 and was sentenced to nine months of probation, in which he was prohibited from possessing weapons and ordered to undergo anger management counselling.

[33] Residents were suspicious that Wortman was stockpiling gasoline and propane tanks, and they reported hearing him brag about having lime and muriatic acid to dispose of bodies.

[86][30] Neighbours also said that Wortman struggled with alcohol use and his business was negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced all non-essential denturist services in Nova Scotia to close.

[90][91] According to a businessman in Dieppe, Wortman inquired about buying a decommissioned RCMP cruiser from him in 2017 or 2018, claiming to be a retired officer who wanted to park the vehicle outside his house to deter thieves.

[74][94] A former neighbour in Portapique said he reported Wortman to the RCMP in the summer of 2013 for assaulting his spouse and having a cache of illegal firearms, but they declined to take firmer action due to not receiving a complaint from the partner.

[99] On May 11, the RCMP's Behavioral Analysis Unit launched a "psychological autopsy" on Wortman, which involved extensive interrogations with his friends, family members, and colleagues.

[3][53][104] On June 25, 2022, the National Post reported on a briefing note sent to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau days after the shooting, which identified the four firearms owned by Wortman and used by him in the attacks.

[105] According to the note, the rifles were a Colt Law Enforcement Carbine and a Ruger Mini-14, both of which were among the firearm models and variants banned by the Canadian government in the wake of the attacks.

[75] The Colt and both pistols were previously classified as restricted in Canada, meaning Wortman would have needed to complete a more detailed safety course and background check in order to legally own them.

[113] News magazine Maclean's reported that a CA$475,000 withdrawal from Brink's and other evidence pointed to Wortman having ties to organised crime and being a confidential informant for the RCMP.

[114][115] In response to the allegations, the RCMP denied having any prior association with Wortman, saying his recent behaviour and stockpiling activities were driven by paranoia about the COVID-19 pandemic possibly growing out of control and leading to a widespread institutional and infrastructural collapse.

[75] In this context, the Nova Scotia Judge has ordered those certain amendments to the search warrant documents relating to the RCMP investigation into the events of April 18–19 remain unedited.

[131] The independent public inquiry was created to examine the mass casualty in Nova Scotia and to provide meaningful recommendations to keep communities safe in the future.

More than half of the report's 130 recommendations were targeted at the RCMP, including one calling the federal Public Safety Minister to start an independent review of the force.

Among them, a woman in uniform, whose job it is to protect lives, even if it endangers her own, constable Heidi Stevenson of the RCMP" and asked the media to not use the attacker's name or image: "Do not give this person the gift of infamy.

[141] Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, expressed her condolences, saying that she and Prince Philip were "saddened by the appalling events", and that her thoughts and prayers were with the people of Nova Scotia and all Canadians.

[145] Since the attacks, the lack of transparency in the investigation has been strongly criticised, and calls have been made for a public inquiry into the police response, including by dozens of senators from Nova Scotia and across the country.

Via Order in Council, the government re-classified them as "Prohibited" under the Firearms Act, with a two-year amnesty period to allow current owners to dispose, export, register, or sell them (under a buy-back scheme), and for special uses.

[106][107][155] Five separate court challenges were raised in response to the ban, claiming the Canadian government contravened the Firearms Act and unfairly targeted legal gun owners.

[156] On May 3, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair announced plans to expand Canada's red flag law to include family members and others.

[157] The Liberal Party of Canada announced on its website measures against gun violence and a ban on the use, sale or import of assault weapons, most used in mass shootings in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy.

CBC News' television program The Fifth Estate and online newspaper Halifax Examiner analyzed the timeline of events, and both observed a myriad of failures and shortcomings in the RCMP response.

[74][172] Activists criticised law enforcement's inability to respond to earlier domestic violence reports against Wortman and called for attention to be placed on the role of misogyny in the attacks.

[180] The alleged representatives of the plaintiffs in the case are Tyler Edison Blair and Andrew Frederick O'Brien, who filed the lawsuit in Nova Scotia Supreme Court.