FOG BLOG MARITIME NEWS LOG: PARTNER OF PORTAPIQUE MASS SHOOTER TESTIFIES, 'HE DID THIS, I DIDN'T!'

Partner of N.S. mass shooter says she understands families' anger but 'he did this and I didn't' Lawyers of victims’ families concerned about lack of ability to ask questions The partner of the man responsible for the Nova Scotia mass shooting in 2020 says the idea that he killed their neighbours while looking for her "haunts" her constantly.

Lisa Banfield testified Friday before the Mass Casualty Commission leading a public inquiry into the rampage across April 18 and 19, 2020, when her common-law spouse Gabriel Wortman killed 22 people as he drove a mock RCMP cruiser across the province. Banfield, who was questioned only by commission counsel, spoke with two of her sisters by her side.

She has previously told police and the commission that the gunman threw her in his mock RCMP cruiser, but she was able to escape and hide in the woods overnight.

When Banfield was asked about victims Greg and Jamie Blair, who lived near the gunman's property, Banfield said she had no idea why he would go to their home.

"I feel like he was targeting me and my family, and if I didn't get out of that car, I often think, 'Would any of those people have died?'" Banfield said through tears.

"That's something that haunts me all the time, because I feel that they weren't targeted — that he was looking for me in the beginning." The gunman killed 13 people within the small community of Portapique on April 18 and burned some homes, before fleeing the community in the replica cruiser. He would kill nine more people the next day, including a pregnant woman and an RCMP officer, as he drove south through the province.

Banfield was also asked about the various firearms the gunman owned. Although she said she knew he didn't have a gun licence, Banfield said she never considered reporting him to the police.

"If we had a fight, he put the gun to my head to scare me and said he could blow off my head," Banfield said through tears.

"So I was scared. I'm not going to say anything."

Banfield said she was aware other men also knew Wortman had these guns and were afraid to say anything, "so what am I gonna do?" She was also asked about what happened when two Halifax Regional Police officers arrived at the Dartmouth home she shared with the gunman in June 2010, investigating reports that he had threatened to kill his parents.

At the time, Banfield told officers there were no guns in the house. She testified Friday that wasn't true, but she said she lied to protect the officers.

"[Wortman] had the handgun by the nightstand and said if any police come, 'I'm shooting,'" Banfield said.

Soon after this, Banfield said RCMP Const. Greg Wiley came by the Portapique cottage to see whether Wortman had any firearms.