Nova Scotia didn’t send an emergency alert for active shooter, but did for social distancing

At least one victim, Kristin Beaton, was killed on her way to work on Sunday morning, assuming the rampage was over.

"We thought he was taken care of. If I had known he was on the loose I would have not let my wife leave the house that day," Nick Beaton told CTV News.

Now, Beaton's husband, Nick, is wondering why an alert wasn't sent to ensure the safety of the province's citizens.

"They can use the alert to warn us about COVID and [to] separate, and I believe that's important. But what's more important [is that] there was like 19 lives lost," he said.

While warnings were sent online via Twitter and Facebook, only those who had notifications turned on for the RCMP Nova Scotia's Twitter were receiving live updates of the spree, in real time.

Those same alerts are used for Amber Alerts, wherein an alarm sound and notification are sent to cell phones in the area to ensure that the public is up to date on an emergency or crisis.

The RCMP Chief Superintendent Chris Leather was pressed on the matter on Monday, with Leather initially responding that the alerts were sent, before being informed that they were only sent on Twitter and Facebook.

"We have relied on Twitter, as my colleague said, because of the instantaneous manner that we can communicate. We're aware that we have thousands of followers in Nova Scotia and felt that it was a way, a superior way to communicate this ongoing threat," Leather said.

But the fact of the matter is, most Canadians don't use Twitter, and certainly are not following the RCMP's Twitter hour-to-hour.

"RCMP were tweeting, I don't know, I don't use Twitter and I don't know anyone that does use Twitter," said Beaton.

A release from the RCMP reads: "As soon as we learned that the suspect was possibly in a replica police cruiser and wearing what appeared to be an RCMP uniform, we immediately informed the public. Nova Scotians can rest assured that the RCMP is committed to keeping the public informed and instructing Nova Scotians on how to protect themselves from threats to public safety."

Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil would later say that an alert wasn't sent throughout the province because he was never asked to do so.

"Well [the Emergency Management Office] needs to be ordered to put that out. Public Health ordered us to put the COVID one out, we were happy to support them. We have people in and ready. But we were not asked to put out that alert on the weekend," McNeil said.

"I can tell you, I'm not going to second-guess why someone or the organization did what they did or didn't do at this moment in time. This was an active environment, I can tell you. Deaths, gunfire. Let's give them an opportunity as an organization to explain that to you."

But that answer will never answer questions that Nick Beaton has, of whether or not an alert would have stopped his wife from going in to work.

"Me and Kristen laid in bed the night before and watched him down in Portapique, raining terror on people. We woke up that morning…we just assumed it was over," he said.

We thought he was taken care of. If I had known he was on the loose I would have not let my wife leave the house that day," said Beaton to CTV.