RCMP say the shooter had access to several guns, including a pistol and long-barrelled weapons. (This is before he reportedly stole the RCMP officer's handgun.) They have earlier said he doesn't have a gun licence. Have not said yet how he may have obtained the weapons.

Mid-Sunday morning, the shooter (using the RCMP replica car) pulled over at least two cars and killed the occupants. He also shot a woman who was walking along the side of the road.

Two RCMP constables (Morrison and Stevenson) had arranged to meet. But the gunman got there first, using the replica RCMP car, and shot and injured Morrison, who escaped. Then the gunman drove off and hit Stevenson's car head-on. Shot and killed Stevenson, stole her handgun.

RCMP are not sure yet how the shooter escaped from the perimeter around the initial cluster of crime scenes at Portapique (there's only one road in and out), but they think he may have driven through a field. They do not know for sure yet.

RCMP say that to the best of their knowledge, the shooter did not have access to their radio comms. They use encrypted communications.

Shooter had four (!) cars that could have been used police vehicles. Two were burning at his Portapique house, a third was located at his Halifax house. RCMP did not initially realize there was a fourth that he was using, it did not have a licence plate.

The non-use of the emergency alert system early on will be reviewed, but RCMP say a big factor is they believed they had the suspect contained within the Portapique perimeter. They thought the vehicles were all accounted for.

RCMP still aren't sure why some people were targeted. They don't know if he had a hit list or not. They were proactively trying to find people who might be targeted, such as family members or people who had tangled with the gunman previously.

RCMP have done some tracing on the weapons, which include a handgun and long-guns. One originated from Canada. The others seem to have come from the United States. (Again: gunman did not have a firearms licence so these would have been obtained illegally.)