Updated 7.30am, 31 December
CANADIAN POLICE ARE investigating the deaths of nine people whose bodies were found in three separate but linked crime scenes, authorities and local media said.
The homicides took place in Edmonton, a city of nearly one million people in the western province of Alberta.
The man believed to have been responsible for the deaths, who took his own life, was well-known to police. His body was found in the third and final location in Fort Saskatchewan.
A 9mm handgun, legally registered in British Columbia 1997 and reported stolen in 2006, was used in the murders.
Domestic violence
CBC News carries a press conference with police chief Rod Knecht, who described the tragedy as an “extreme case of domestic violence gone awry”.
Police have identified one of the victims, Cyndi Duong (37), who died as a result of a gunshot wound. Edmonton Police Service said that officers found her body while responding to a “weapon’s [sic] complaint” on Monday evening at a residence.
Autopsies on the remaining seven victims, found in a private residence, and lone male suspect will take place today.
According to CBC News, seven of those killed were found shot dead last night in a north Edmonton home. Police Chief Rod Knecht confirmed two of the victims were “very young” children – a boy and a girl.
Knecht told reporters that the killings were “planned and deliberate” and did not have gang links.
A woman’s body – Cyndi Duong – was found in a separate house in the southwest of the city and the body of a man, believed to be the shooter, was discovered in Fort Saskatchewan, CBC said.
A black SUV was identified in the area where Duong was found, and is believed to be the same vehicle found in Saskatchewan.
Yesterday, in what transpired to be a linked incident to Duong’s shooting, police were sent to check in on a male at a private residence in North Edmonton, According to the family, the man seemed “depressed and overly emotional” and they were concerned he may have been suicidal.
Police found nothing suspicious outside the residence, and no signs of the vehicle. They did not find the man present. Following “significant disclosure by a second individual,” patrol officers returned to the scene and entered the residence.
They then found seven deceased individuals inside: three middle-aged female adults, three middle-aged male adults, and two children (one male, one female, both under 10).
Knecht said this was not a random incident, describing it as a “tragic incidence of domestic violence” and said there is no danger to the wider public.
Police attended this residence on two separate occasions, once in 2012 and the second in 2013.
“This male suspect is well-known to the Edmonton police service, and has a criminal record dating back to 1987,” said Knecht.
- © AFP 2014 with additional reporting by Michelle Hennessy and Aoife Barry
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