Police in western Canada yesterday were investigating the “senseless mass murder” of six adults and two children, who were apparently slain by a depressed man who later killed himself.
Edmonton Police Service Chief Rod Knecht said the killings — the worst ever in Edmonton — were “planned and deliberate,” and apparently were carried out during a domestic dispute.
The killings began late on Monday in the southern part of Edmonton, a city of nearly 1 million people in the province of Alberta, where a man shot to death a woman in her 30s, Knecht said.
The man then headed to a residence in the north of the city, where he killed another seven people — three women, two men, a girl and a boy.
Alerted by reports of a disturbance, police on Monday went first to a home where they discovered the body of the first female victim.
Later that evening, they went to investigate reports of a “suicidal male” at a house in the north of the city.
An initial visit to the house showed nothing out of the ordinary, but when police returned a few hours later and entered the home, they discovered the bodies of the seven slain people.
The body of the suspected killer, an apparent suicide, was found early on Tuesday in a Vietnamese restaurant in Fort Saskatchewan, a northeastern suburb of Edmonton.
Authorities said that the suspect “had a business interest” in the restaurant where his body was found.
The names and ages of the victims and their alleged killer were not immediately released.
Knecht said the suspect had a criminal record of sexual assault and violence dating back to 1987, and that he was in deep financial distress.
A woman told the Edmonton Journal newspaper that she had heard noises on Monday outside the restaurant.
She saw several police officers, one of whom yelled through a megaphone to someone in the restaurant: “Come out with your hands up.”
Detectives went on to find a dead man inside and quickly identified him as the suspected killer.
Knecht said that the public was not at any risk.
“This series of events are not believed to be random acts,” he said at a news conference. “And these events do not appear to be gang-related, but rather tragic incidents of domestic violence.”
“Our thoughts go out to the community... with this senseless mass murder,” the police chief added.
The killings were the worst-ever in Edmonton, where six people were slain in a tragic incident in 1956.
Mass killings and gun crime are relatively rare in Canada compared with the US, where gun ownership is also much more widespread.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel