In Ottawa, Canada, six Sri Lankans, including a mother and her four young children, were tragically killed in a stabbing, as confirmed by the Ottawa police.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed his shock, describing the incident as a “tragedy.” The attack also left the father of the family critically injured, now receiving medical treatment in the hospital.
Authorities have apprehended Febrio De-Zoysa, a 19-year-old Sri Lankan student, charging him with six counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. De-Zoysa, who had connections to the family and resided in their home, is now in custody.
The victims of this heinous crime include a 35-year-old woman, her children aged 7, 4, 2, and 2 months, and a 40-year-old male friend of the family.
Ottawa Police Chief Eric Stubbs, addressing the media, described the killings as an incomprehensible act of violence against individuals who posed no threat. Before this tragedy, the police had not interacted with either the suspect or the victims.
Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe took to social media to express his dismay, labelling the event as one of the city’s most appalling acts of violence.
Ottawa, home to approximately one million residents, recorded 14 murders in 2023 and 15 in the preceding year. The discovery of Wednesday’s victims in a Barrhaven suburb house came after police responded to emergency calls just before 11 p.m.
Canada rarely witnesses mass killings. A notable exception occurred in December 2022 when a man in a Toronto suburb fatally shot five individuals before police neutralized him. Another incident in September of the same year saw a man in Saskatchewan fatally stab 11 people; he later succumbed to a cocaine overdose following his arrest.
