Thread by @Tim_Bousquet

BREAKING: New details emerge about the night of April 18 in Portapique /thread

Lisa Banfield told police that that evening was her and GW's 19th anniversary. They had drinks and FaceTimed friends in Houlton, Maine, a couple.

Lisa and GW told the couple in Maine that for their 20th anniversary, they were going to have a "commitment ceremony." The woman in Maine said "don't do it." That upset Lisa, and she said "I'm leaving." That in turn upset GW.

Lisa got halfway to their cottage but started feeling bad and came back to say she was sorry. But "at that point [GW] was already mad." Lisa said she was going home.

Trigger warning. Domestic abuse will be detailed in the next few tweets.

"Lisa Banfield went to bed and [GW] came in and ripped the blankets off her and started beating her up." He told her to get dressed and said "it's done."

GW "poured gasoline all inside the cottage and told Lisa Banfield to grab the gun out of the cottage. They started to walk back to the warehouse so [he] could burn that."

GW told Lisa to walk in front of her "and she promised to walk behind him but [he] wouldn't allow that and ripped her shoes off her feet"

"Lisa Banfield got loose and started running but tripped and fell." GW "picked her up by the hair and started pulling her towards the warehouse."

GW "tried to handcuff her but only got one handcuff on and then he started shooting at the ground around her"

"Lisa Banfield begged [GW] not to kill her."

"He shot the firearm again and then put her in the back of the police car and then he went upstairs to the warehouse."

Lisa "tried to kick out the windows and then was able to pry open the glass (silent patrolman) and crawled through and escaped and ran into the woods"

He had placed "all the guns" in the front seat of the car.

There are more un-redactions in this part, but they don't give much beyond the specifics of his guns and vehicles. I'll detail that when I write an article, but not here.

Lisa told police that GW "had been abusive to her in the past but she never reported any of the abuse."

I'm quickly scanning the newly released information, so will jump around a bit....

The carpenter who lived in Portapique told police that GW had "two crates of grenades" that he got from the US.

The carpenter said Lisa and GW had separate beds and he had overheard them arguing in the past about how GW had previously "put a gun a gun to her head"

As I'm downloading more documents, let me stress that all the quotes above are from the court documents police related in their application for search warrants. They relate conversations police had with various witnesses and such. None of the information has been tested at trial

So far, I haven't found much more of interest, but I'm still looking. I should also add...

This information is becoming public because a media consortium that includes the Halifax Examiner has hired a lawyer to press that court documents be unsealed....

The consortium now includes the CBC, CTV, Global News, the Globe and Mail, the Halifax Examiner, and Saltwire. The Examiner is by far the smallest media organization, with the smallest budget.

If you would like to support our work on this file, please consider subscribing: halifaxexaminer.ca/subscription-a… or dropping us a donation: halifaxexaminer.ca/donate/ Your help has already made a huge difference, and we thank you.

I'll now make a closer pass through the documents and will tweet out anything else I find noteworthy. But also...

I should note that the details that are made public today are details that neither Lisa Banfield nor the federal and provincial crown objected to being public. There are still lots of details that remain secret.

I've made another pass and don't see much more. I have a midnight deadline for an important document submission, so need to turn my attention back to that now. I'll report in more detail on the new search warrant details in the morning, in tomorrow's Morning File.