Six members of the same family murdered in Canada

Toronto. A 19-year-old Sri Lankan student was accused of stabbing to death six of his roommates, including a two-and-a-half-month-old girl and three other children from a Sri Lankan family.Ottawa Police gave this information on Thursday.

Ottawa Police Chief Eric Stubbs said the suspect, identified as Fabricio De-Zoysa, used a “bladed weapon” or a “knife-like object.” He has been charged with six counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder., Mass murders are rare in Canada.

Stubbs said the deceased were Sri Lankan nationals who had recently arrived in Canada. He told that these include a 35 year old mother, a 7 year old son, a 4 year old daughter, a 2 year old daughter and a two and a half month old baby girl. Also a 40-year-old acquaintance of the family.

When the first officers arrived at the home, the father of the family was outside and yelling for someone to call 911, the police chief said. Police received two emergency calls at 10:52 pm on Wednesday.

The father remains hospitalized with serious, non-life-threatening injuries.

Stubbs declared, “It was a senseless act of violence committed against completely innocent people.”

Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner said that he is in touch with relatives in the country’s capital Colombo.

De-Zoysa appeared briefly in court on Thursday and nodded mumblingly as a justice of the peace ordered him not to speak to the father who survived the attack or four other witnesses who gave statements to police.

His case was adjourned to March 13 to give him time to find a lawyer.

Police arrived at the house in the Barrhaven area shortly before 11pm on Wednesday night. The suspect was immediately taken into custody and police said there was no threat to public safety.

A neighbor, Don Pereira, said he met the family who last lived in the house at a Halloween party at a nearby Catholic elementary school. He said that the father was from Sri Lanka.

Shanti Ramesh, who lives across the road, received information about a commotion late on Wednesday night. From her balcony, she saw a man sitting in the driveway of the house and screaming, before two police officers arrived and took him away.

Thursday morning, five marked police cars were parked on the street and in the driveway of the home, which is one of the middle units in a row of brick homes.

Several people wearing white jumpsuits entered and exited the house early in the morning, while parents and children were walking or bicycling to a nearby elementary school.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, “Our first reactions to this horrific violence are shock and horror.”

Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe called this news worrying for all the people of the city.

“It’s hard to believe,” he said. “It’s devastating and heartbreaking.”

Police identified the victims as 35-year-old mother Darshani Banbaranayake Gama Walawe Darshani Dilanthika Ekanyake; Inuka Wickramasinghe, a 7-year-old boy; 4 year old daughter Ashwini Wickramasinghe, 2 year old daughter Rinyana Wickramasinghe and two and a half month old daughter Kelly Wickramasinghe.

The sixth victim, Amrakoonmubiyansela G Gamini Amrakoon, 40, was also found dead.