Portapique survivor of N.S. mass shooting dies

A man who survived the mass shooting in Portapique, N.S., in April 2020 has died suddenly.

RCMP responded to Leon Joudrey’s home on Sunday where they found him deceased. They say his death is not considered suspicious.

Joudrey lived in Portapique at the time of the mass shooting.

The killer’s common-law spouse, Lisa Banfield, ran to Joudrey’s home for help the morning of April 19, 2020, after she had spent the night hiding from Gabriel Wortman.

Joudrey spoke with CTV News on several occasions after the tragedy.

“I'm the lucky one, I survived,” Joudrey told CTV News in an interview a month after the 22 murders.

CTV News last spoke with Joudrey on Oct. 26. He said he had spent almost two years living anywhere other than Portapique, but that he had to return to maintain his home and land off Orchard Beach Road, after unsuccessfully trying to sell the property.

“Living here is a complete nightmare,” he told CTV News. “All I see is my friends that died, and fires, and SWAT teams and I don't even want to be here anymore.”

In addition to having difficulty selling his property, Joudrey said he was also under financial strain. He had been unable to work at his former forestry job for two years, and said his disability benefits through his employer would run out in early 2023.

He said the whole experience had taken a toll on his mental health and that he spent a month in a psychiatric hospital. He said he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, but that no one followed up with him after his release.

“Well, they kind of forgot about me,” he told CTV News on Oct. 26. “I kind of fell through the cracks in the mental health system and it was about four months before they did any follow-up or checks with me."

Joudrey said he was seeing a psychiatrist and had recently connected with a psychologist.

One of the lawyers representing many of the families of the victims and survivors told CTV News last week that Joudrey’s struggle is indicative of what many are going through.

“A number of them feel, just forgotten about,” Sandra McCulloch said. “There are people who are survivors of the mass casualty event that are still having a hard time; they're still not fully supported."

The issue of supporting survivors is one she raised at the Mass Casualty Commission examining the tragedy.