"It was a significant assault, and this individual female did manage to escape, and that could very well have been the catalyst to start the chain of events."
The Police sent a series of tweets warning that there was an active shooter in the area, but did not put out warnings via text, television or radio.
The RCMP had said on Monday it expected the number of victims to increase as it investigates the 16 crime scenes in the Atlantic province of Nova Scotia that were part of the spree of murders.
Police told reporters that 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman shot people in several locations across the province and they were still trying to establish a final death toll.
The swastika was discovered on Thursday night and reported Friday to local police and to B’nai Brith of Canada.
While the driver is in custody, no comment has been released as to his motivation for the attack.