Sri Lankan family killed in Canadian capital in rare case of mass murder

Six individuals, together with 4 kids, have been killed within the Canadian capital Ottawa late on Wednesday, police mentioned on Thursday, rocking a rustic the place mass murders are uncommon.

A seventh particular person was in hospital with critical, however non-life-threatening, accidents.

Police rapidly arrested a person and mentioned the deaths didn’t look like linked to home or intimate associate violence.

“The scene is clearly a horrific one,” police chief Eric Stubbs informed the Canadian Broadcasting Company, with out offering particulars on how the victims died.

Ottawa mayor Mark Sutcliffe, in a social media submit, mentioned it was “one of the crucial stunning incidents of violence in our metropolis’s historical past”. Ottawa, which has a inhabitants of 1 million, noticed 14 murders in 2023 and 15 in 2022.

The victims have been discovered inside a home within the southwestern suburb of Barrhaven.

Sri Lanka’s excessive fee in Ottawa mentioned the victims have been a household of Sri Lankan nationals. The excessive fee mentioned the daddy survived however his spouse and kids died, including that it’s in contact with kinfolk within the nation’s capital of Colombo.

Canadian authorities haven’t confirmed the identities of the deceased, their ages or the identification of the particular person in hospital.

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Don Perera, a neighbour, mentioned he met the household that lived within the house final fall at a Halloween occasion on the close by Catholic junior college. He mentioned the daddy was from Sri Lanka.

Shanti Ramesh, who lives throughout the road, was alerted to a commotion late Wednesday. From her balcony, she noticed a person sitting on the driveway of the house and yelling earlier than two law enforcement officials arrived and carried him away.

Police arrived on the scene following emergency calls shortly earlier than 11pm on Wednesday, they mentioned in an announcement.

Mass killings in Canada are rare.

In December 2022, a person shot 5 individuals in a Toronto suburb earlier than being gunned down by police.

In September that yr, a person stabbed and killed 11 individuals within the western province of Saskatchewan. He died of a cocaine overdose shortly after being arrested by police.

Reuters and Related Press