3-month delay connecting Lionel Desmond with follow-up care after hospital release, inquiry hears It took more than three months following Lionel Desmond's release from an in-patient psychiatric program for Veterans Affairs to connect him with the person assigned to help him transition to life outside the military and outside the hospital, a fatality inquiry in Port Hawkesbury, N.S., heard Wednesday. Social Sharing Veteran with PTSD who fatally shot family and himself called Veterans Affairs trying to get help sooner Posted: Apr 21, 2021 7:05 PM AT | Last Updated: April 22 On Jan. 3, 2017, Lionel Desmond shot his daughter, mother, wife and then himself in a home in Upper Big Tracadie. A fatality inquiry is looking at the support services available to the Afghanistan war veteran. (Dave Irish/CBC)