The contours of this tragic affair are beginning to take shape.
Six people, including four young children, were found dead in a house in a suburb of Ottawa, Canadian police announced Thursday, adding that a suspect had already been arrested.
Shortly before 11 p.m. Wednesday, emergency responders rushed to a residence in the Barrhaven area after receiving two emergency calls.
On site, the police discovered the bodies of a two-and-a-half-month-old infant, three children aged two, four and seven, their 35-year-old mother as well as a 40-year-old man, whom the police described as as a “family acquaintance”.
The children's father and the woman's husband, found injured at the scene, was taken to hospital, where he remains in critical condition.
All the victims, those killed like the injured, were killed by a “sharp weapon”, the police said.
The members of this family, originally from Sri Lanka, “are new arrivals to Canada,” said Police Chief Eric Stubbs during a press conference Thursday afternoon.
The 19-year-old suspect
Police arrested a 19-year-old student, also of Sri Lankan origin, on Wednesday evening, whom they believe to be “the only suspect”.
He is accused of six premeditated murders and an attempted murder of the father of the family.
He was “known to the family and he lived in the house,” said the police chief.
The police believe it is a foreign student, and have ruled out the theory of domestic violence, according to Radio Canada.
“This is a senseless act of violence perpetrated against purely innocent people,” said Eric Stubbs, describing the tragedy as a “mass massacre” of violence that Ottawa has rarely, if ever, seen in the past. over the last decades.
Mayor Mark Stucliffe said he was “devastated” by “one of the most shocking incidents of violence in our city’s history.”
“It’s really rare and really shocking,” he insisted, speaking of Ottawa as a safe city.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also said he was “shocked” and “horrified by this terrible violence”.
“We are going to let the police do their job and keep us informed about this terrible tragedy,” he told reporters Thursday morning.
According to Radio Canada, the suspect will appear on March 14, after a first appearance before a judge Thursday afternoon.