Updated: 7.15 am 23/01
SHOTS RANG OUT at a school in western Canada yesterday, leaving four people dead and several others critically injured in the nation’s worst such shooting in a quarter of a century.
“Obviously, this is every parent’s worst nightmare,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Trudeau held a news conference in Davos, Switzerland, where he was attending the World Economic Summit, to announce the death toll in the remote northern aboriginal community of La Loche in the province of Saskatchewan.
Trudeau earlier said five people had been killed and two others were in critical condition but a Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokeswoman later revised the death toll down to four.
The suspected shooter was taken into custody after police received an emergency call about “a person discharging a weapon in the community,” RCMP superintendent Maureen Levy told reporters.
She said police were also investigating a second location in a nearby residential neighbourhood, but provided no further details.
Authorities did not disclose the age and identify of the shooter and victims.
“We all grieve with and stand with the community of La Loche and all of Saskatchewan on this terrible tragic day,” Trudeau said.
La Loche students said they heard six or seven shots ring out at around 1:00 pm (1900 GMT).
Several witnesses reported seeing a “boy,” who was either a student or formerly attended the school, opening fire inside the building.
The town’s hospital told AFP they were treating the victims for gunshot wounds.
The high school and a nearby elementary school were locked down as police responded.
“It’s just tragic and everybody’s running around,” said Kevin Janvier, acting mayor, adding that to his understanding the shooting took place when an individual walked in and “opened fire in the building.”
Located deep in Canada’s northern boreal forest, 600 kilometres north of Saskatoon, this town of about 3,000 is particularly isolated and authorities had to send in police reinforcements and dispatch a medical helicopter to airlift some victims to a hospital.
In a Facebook posted last night, administrators at La Loche Community school announced “an emergency” in the secondary school building, and said nobody was being allowed in or out until police declared the location to be safe.
The primary school building, although a few hundred feet away from the site of the emergency, was placed on lockdown as a precaution.
Brad Wall, the Premier of the Saskatchewan province, said his “thoughts and prayers are with all the victims”, without specifying any number, or confirming any deaths.
The CTV network cites the town’s fire chief as saying “a boy” is in custody.
CBC News, meanwhile, reports that a nurse at the local health centre confirmed several people were being treated for gunshot wounds.
One student told the network:
I ran outside the school. There was lots of screaming, there was about six, seven shots before I got outside. I believe there was more shots by the time I did get out.
La Loche is a remote aboriginal community of around 3,000 people in northern Saskatchewan, seven hours north of the province’s largest city, Saskatoon.
Reporting by Dan MacGuill
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