Desmond Inquiry: Nova Scotia Firearms Official Testifies About Better Communication

The Desmond Fatality Inquiry is being held at the Guysborough Municipal building in Guysborough, N.S. on Nov. 18, 2019. Lionel Desmond, a troubled Afghan war veteran diagnosed with PTSD, killed his mother, wife and young daughter before taking his own life. The inquiry's mandate, among other things, is to determine if Desmond and his family had access to the appropriate mental health and domestic violence intervention services leading up to their deaths. The inquiry has been put on hold until January 2020. The Canadian Press/Andrew Vaughan

PORT HAWKESBURY, N.S.—Nova Scotia’s chief firearms officer told an inquiry today that communications with his colleagues in other provinces have improved since a former soldier fatally shot his family and himself in rural Nova Scotia in 2017.

John Parkin was testifying at the provincial fatality inquiry investigating the death of former infantryman Lionel Desmond, who on Jan. 3, 2017, used a legally purchased semi-automatic rifle to kill his wife, daughter and mother before he turned the weapon on himself.