April 2020. Canada’s deadliest mass shooting began with the gunman’s assault on his girlfriend, who escaped, hid in the woods overnight and emerged in the morning with information crucial to stopping him, police said Friday. Darren Campbell, a superintendent with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Nova Scotia, said the assault and escape were a “significant incident” that could have been the “catalyst” for Gabriel Wortman’s nearly 14-hour rampage in the eastern province last weekend. But he said he was not discounting that it was premeditated. The details emerged as investigators for the first time laid out a specific timeline of the attack, which ended with 23 people dead, including an RCMP officer and the gunman, several structures in flames and 16 crime scenes. Police have said that Wortman, who carried out part of the attack dressed in an authentic police uniform while driving a sophisticated mock-up of an RCMP vehicle, acted alone. But they were investigating whether anyone assisted him before the rampage.