A police officer and a member of the coroner's office talk at the scene of a homicide where six people were found dead in the Barrhaven suburb of Ottawa on Thursday, March 7, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle

By The Canadian Press

HOMICIDE IN OTTAWA

Two adults, four children found dead in Ottawa-area home, police say

Mar 7, 2024 | 11:04 AM

UPDATE: The names of the victims and the suspect in custody have been released.

Darshani Banbaranayake Gama Walwwe Darshani Dilanthika Ekanyake, 35; her four children Inuka, 7, Ashwini, 4, Rinyana, 2, and Kelly, two months; and a 40-year-old man, Amarakoonmubiayansela Ge Gamini Amarakoon.

The woman’s husband was brought to hospital with injuries. The couple were from Sri Lanka.

A 19-year-old man, Febrio De-Zoysa, was arrested Thursday and charged with six counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. He is a Sri Lankan national believed to be in Canada as a student.

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Ottawa’s police chief has said an attack by a “lone actor” left four children and two adults dead and a seventh person injured last night.

Police Chief Eric Stubbs initially used the phrase “mass shooting” in an interview, but officials have yet to confirm if that’s the case.

The high commission says the father survived but his wife and children died, adding it is in touch with their family members in the country’s capital of Colombo.

Police were called to a townhouse in Barrhaven shortly before 11 p.m. yesterday and discovered the bodies in what Stubbs is calling “a horrific scene.”

One man was arrested very shortly after police arrived.

A smear of what appeared to be blood was visible on the front door of one of the homes next door this morning.

Stubbs says police are still trying to determine the relationship between the suspect and the victims but it did not appear to be a case of domestic violence.

Shanti Ramesh, who lives across the street, was alerted to a commotion late Wednesday.

From her balcony, she saw a man sitting on the driveway of the home and yelling before two police officers arrived and carried him away.

She says several more police cruisers and an ambulance arrived on the scene shortly afterwards.