SiRT concludes police actions reasonable leading up to death of James Gamble

The province’s Serious Incident Response Team says police were not at fault in the death of a 19-year-old associated with an alleged mall shooting plot.

James Gamble died of a self-inflicted gunshot at his home in Timberlea.

The report released by the independent body says on February 12, 2015 police arrived at the Tiger Maple Drive home after receiving information that a male and female were planning a mass shooting at a Halifax mall on Valentine’s Day.

Officers had the house under surveillance, and both Gamble’s parents left the home in separate vehicles and were stopped by officers as they tried to return.

According to the SiRT investigation, Gamble’s mother told police he had been diagnosed with a social anxiety disorder a few years earlier, and had recently been acting secretive.

Both the mother and father asked go into the house and to talk Gamble to leaving, but police wouldn’t allow it.

“One can understand why the parents would want to assist in that way, however the police made the determination there were risks involved in that,” explained SiRT director Ron MacDonald.

Police assume Gamble had access to firearms because of photos posted on social media, and his father confirmed there were two rifles in the house, but neither parent thought the 19-year-old knew where to find the ammunition.

The parents then asked if officers would call Gamble and ask him to come out.

One of the two called Gamble at 8:59 p.m., spending 5 minutes and 12 seconds on the phone with him, that officer said he was cooperative and not emotional.

“The only contact was by phone, but he did seem to be cooperative on that phone call,” said MacDonald. “They were asking him to come out and surrender to those officers who were outside, they were un-uniformed officers and they were going to arrest him and take him into questioning.”

The officer told SiRT the 19-year-old indicated told him he was going downstairs to the door, moments later a gunshot was heard coming from inside the house.

Police called in the Emergency Response Team and tried calling Gamble back several times, police also sent a remote controlled camera into the home but weren’t able to find anyone on the main floor.

At around 1:20 a.m., ERT entered and found Gamble dead in his upper floor bedroom from a self-inflicted single-gunshot wound to the head.

SiRT determined his death would have been instant.

The investigation concluded the actions of the police were reasonable, they didn’t encourage or assist in Gamble taking his life, and there are no grounds for charges.

“Unfortunately the young man made the decision to take a different route, but there’s nothing in the actions of the police that could any way constitute a criminal matter,” said MacDonald.

A pre-trail hearing is scheduled today for the two people charged in the mall shooting plot.

Lindsay Kantha Souvannarath of Geneva, Ill and Randall Steven Shepherd of Halifax have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit arson, illegal possession of dangerous weapons and making a threat through social media.