NS killing: shooter had history of intimidation and violent altercations | Portapique massacre: Nova Scotia in mourning

A Halifax Police vehicle outside the Atlantic Denture Clinic on Portland Street near downtown Dartmouth on April 19, 2020.

< p class="e-p">The man who killed 22 people in Nova Scotia in April 2020 had been violent in the decades leading up to the shooting. He assaulted and harassed strangers, employees and patients.

New documents released by the Mass Casualty Commission, which is investigating the tragedy, show that he used to bully, beat, stalk and berate anyone who offended him.

In interviews with police after the shooting, dozens of people described him as scary, violent, disturbed and obsessive.

He scared the crap out of me, ex-patient tells police.

The man, identified as BK, lived near the shooter's denture clinic in Dartmouth and encountered him occasionally while taking out the trash. Denturist Gabriel Wortman offered to get him some dentures and agree to a monthly payment plan.

But when BK couldn't make his $50 payment $ in December 1999, he confronted him, threw him to the ground to rip the dentures out of his mouth and shoved a handful of snow into him instead.

He said 'Merry Christmas' to me. And he left, BK recalls.

BK did not return to collect his dentures and left the area.

Former employees told police this was not an isolated incident.

A Halifax Regional Police investigator is seen in a suite above the Atlantic Denture Clinic in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. The clinic belonged to the shooter responsible for the shooting that started in Portapique.

Renée Karsten, a denturist who worked with him at his Dartmouth clinic until 2007, described seeing him twice break patients' dentures because that they complained about the fit.

The Denturist's interactions with his patients have been investigated by the Nova Scotia College of Denturists. The College received at least eight complaints against him between 1998 and 2020.

In February 2007, he signed a settlement agreement to avoid a formal hearing. He accepted allegations of professional misconduct and interference with the college's investigation.

The Dartmouth denturist has been suspended for a month and ordered to undergo training. Investigation documents indicate that he continued to deny any responsibility or wrongdoing.

Woman identified only as BB in investigation documents says she worked as a receptionist for the denturist shortly after graduating from high school.

She quit after less than six months because he repeatedly exposed his penis to her and demanded sexual favors.

Another woman, identified as an SS, applied for a job at the Dartmouth Clinic. After a first interview in 2004, the denturist invited her for a second to his chalet in Portapique.

The shooter burned down several houses, including his cabin in Portapique in April 2020.

She went and he pressured her to have a drink and pass the night in his room. She refused, but she worked for him anyway.

I think in his head he thought he was God's gift to women and that all women should like it, SS testifies to RCMP.

Business people who interacted with the shooter said he was confrontational, condescending, and unreasonably agitated over small issues.

In March 2020, he contacted CIBC officials to withdraw $475,000 from his accounts.

He was concerned that banks would close amid the pandemic. Bank officials were trying to follow protocols when he grew impatient.

A branch manager filed an internal complaint against him.

Halifax Regional Police had dozens of pages of files on Gabriel Wortman because of the many assaults he was involved in over the years.

He has among other assaulted a 15-year-old boy at the Tim Hortons near his clinic in Dartmouth. The shooter struck the teenager in the head and kicked him in the ribs for spitting on him.

This incident, and others like it, were not available to the RCMP in the early hours of the shooting, as the two police forces were using different databases.

Cops blocking the road leading to a crime scene in Portapique.

Since the shooting, many people also revealed to the RCMP other wrongdoings that had never been reported to the police.

The inquest will hear this week from the former neighbor of the shooter, Brenda Forbes. The shooter harassed him because she reported him to the RCMP for domestic violence against his common-law wife.

Besides, Lisa Banfield must also testify at the public hearings Friday.

With information from Ruth Davenport and Haley Ryan of CBC