Death toll in Canada mass shooting rises to 18, Trudeau says

The death toll from the worst mass shooting in Canadian history has risen to 18, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday, including a police officer and the gunman.

“A gunman claimed the lives of at least 18 people, among them a woman in uniform whose job it is to protect lives even if it endangers her own,” Trudeau told reporters, referring to Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Constable Heidi Stevenson, who was killed on Sunday in the shooting spree in the Atlantic province of Nova Scotia.

“It happened in small towns: Portapique, Truro, Milford and Enfield, places where people have deep roots, places where people know their neighbors and look out for one another,” Trudeau said. “Now these communities are in mourning and Canada is in mourning with them.”