TORONTO (AFP): Canadian police found five people dead from gunshots, including three children and the alleged shooter, at two border city residences in a case described on Tuesday as “intimate partner violence.”
The victims were discovered late Monday in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, near the juncture of three Great Lakes bordering the US state of Michigan, about 700 kilometers (430 miles) north of Toronto, after police received reports of break-ins.
A 41-year-old was found “deceased from a gunshot wound” at the first residence. “The shooter had fled the area prior to police arrival,” said a statement.
Ten minutes later, another emergency call saw police head to another home just 3.7 kilometers (2.3 miles) away.
There they found three deceased children, aged six, seven and 12 years old, as well as the alleged shooter who appeared to have died “from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
Another victim, aged 45, was also found injured with a gunshot wound and was taken to hospital.
In a statement, Sault police chief Hugh Stevenson said the incidents were linked and were “the result of intimate partner violence.”
“This is an unspeakable tragedy,” Mayor Matthew Shoemaker said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
According to government data, gun crimes in Canada decreased from 2020 to 2021, accounting for “a small proportion of all violent crimes.” But shootings are up from a decade ago.
