HALIFAX — The parents of a young man connected to an alleged mass-murder plot in Halifax say they want answers from police about the night their son died.
Police say James Lee Gamble, 19, killed himself in his family's home in the suburb of Timberlea on Feb. 13 as investigators were unravelling an alleged plot by Gamble and two other people to shoot and kill people at a Halifax mall the next day.
In an interview with CTV Wednesday, parents John Lee Gamble and Patricia Cody said they were out running errands on the wintry evening that officers surrounded their home, and learned about the allegations involving James at the local police detachment — where they begged to be allowed to speak to him.
"John was saying he wanted to go home: 'Just let me go home, I'll talk to him, I'll talk him out,'" Cody told CTV. "'Let me call him, let me go home.' And they wouldn't let us."
Cody and Gamble declined an interview with the Canadian Press.
Cody said she wonders if her son was driven to suicide after waiting fruitlessly to speak to his parents.
She said he knew they were coming home and wonders if he was waiting for them and thought he had been abandoned by them.
The couple also took issue with the four hours that police waited to enter the home after hearing a gunshot, saying there may have been an opportunity to save James's life.
A childhood friend of Gamble's, Randall Steven Shepherd, is currently awaiting a trial on a charge of conspiracy to commit murder related to the alleged plot. Lindsay Kantha Souvannarath, 23, of Geneva, Illinois, is facing the same charge.
Gamble and Cody say they've asked many questions to many members of the RCMP about the way events unfolded the night their son died and have been frustrated by the response.
An RCMP spokesperson told CTV the situation that night was "fluid," and the family has been given as much information as possible given the ongoing investigation and court case.
