A 19-year-old Sri Lankan student is accused of stabbing and killing six people he lived with, including a 2-1/2-month-old girl and three other children from a Sri Lankan family, Ottawa police said Thursday.
Ottawa Police Service officers surround a home after four children and two adults were found dead in a neighboring home in the Ottawa suburb of Barrhaven, Ontario, Canada. (REUTERS) {{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}} {{^userSubscribed} } {{/userSubscribed}}
Ottawa Police Chief Eric Stubbs said the suspect, identified as Febrio De-Zoysa, used a “sharp weapon” or a “knife-like object.” He is charged with six counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. Mass killings are rare in Canada.
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Stubbs said the deceased were Sri Lankan nationals who had recently arrived in Canada. He said they included a 35-year-old mother, a 7-year-old son, a 4-year-old daughter, a 2-year-old daughter and the 2 1/2-month-old girl, a 40-year-old acquaintance of the family.
The police chief said when officers first arrived at the home, the father of the family was outside yelling for someone to call 911. On Wednesday at 10:52 p.m. the police received two emergency calls.
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The father is in hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
“This was a senseless act of violence committed against completely innocent people,” Stubbs said.
Sri Lanka's High Commission said it was in contact with relatives in the country's capital Colombo.
De-Zoysa appeared briefly in court Thursday and mumbled his agreement as the justice of the peace ordered him not to speak to the father, who survived the attack, or four other witnesses who had given statements to police.
His trial was adjourned to March 13 to give him time to find a lawyer.
Police were called to the home in the Barrhaven area just before 11 p.m. Wednesday night. The suspect was then quickly arrested and police said there was no ongoing threat to public safety.
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Don Perera, a neighbor, said he met the family who lived in the house last fall at a Halloween party at the nearby Catholic elementary school. He said the father was from Sri Lanka.
Shanti Ramesh, who lives across the street, was alerted to a commotion late Wednesday. From her balcony, she saw a man sitting on the driveway of the house and screaming before two police officers arrived and carried him away.
On Thursday morning, five marked police cars were parked on the street and in driveways near the house, which is a middle unit in a row of brick row houses.
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Throughout the early morning, several people in white overalls walked in and out of the house as parents and children passed by on foot or by bike on their way to a nearby elementary school.
“Our initial reactions are all shock and horror at this terrible violence,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.
Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe called the news concerning for all city residents.
“It’s hard to believe,” he said. “It’s devastating and heartbreaking.”
Police identified the victims as Darshani Banbaranayake Gama Walwwe Darshani Dilanthika Ekanyake, the 35-year-old mother; Inuka Wickramasinghe, a 7-year-old boy; Ashwini Wickramasinghe, a 4-year-old daughter, Rinyana Wickramasinghe, a 2-year-old daughter and Kelly Wickramasinghe, a 2 1/2-month-old girl.
A sixth victim, Ge Gamini Amarakon, 40, was also found dead.
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