Six Sri Lankans Knifed To Death In Canada By 19-Year-Old Student (X image@abpolicereport)
Six people from Sri Lanka were knifed to death in Canadian capital Ottawa, said police. The dead include a mother and four young children. The incident rocks the country where mass murders are rare. The Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the incident a “terrible tragedy”. The father of the family was also wounded in the attack, and is in the hospital.
As per police, 19-year-old student named as Febrio De-Zoysa had been arrested and charged with six counts of firs-degree murder and one attempted murder. The student knew the family and had been living with them, said the police.
The victims were a 40-year-old man, who was an acquaintance of the family, the 35-year-old mother, and her children aged 7, 4, 2, and 2 months. The police said that they had no previous dealings with the suspect or the family. “This was a senseless act of violence perpetrated on purely innocent people”, said Ottawa police chief, Eric Stubbs.
In a social media post, Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said that “it was one of the most shocking incidents of violence in our city’s history”.
Like many Ottawa residents, and as both a father and mayor, I’m feeling incredible sadness and grief over the tragic loss of life in Barrhaven. We will observe a moment of silence tomorrow morning at the breakfast for International Women’s Day. I encourage families, community…
— Mark Sutcliffe (@_MarkSutcliffe) March 7, 2024
The victims were found inside a house in the southwestern suburb of Barrhaven. Police arrived on the scene after receiving an emergency call shortly before 11 pm. Ottawa, with the population of one million, has witnessed 14 murders in 2023 and 15 in 2022.
Mass murders are usually rare in Canada until recently. In December 2022, a man shot five people in a Toronto suburb before police gun him down. In September of the same year, a man stabbed and killed 11 people in the western province of Saskatchewan. The man then died of a cocaine overdose shortly after being arrested.
