UPDATE | Ottawa police initially referred to what happened as a mass shooting. The force has since corrected the record, saying there was no shooting on Berrigan Drive. This is a developing story, and it will continue to be updated.
Six people including a mother, her four young children and a family acquaintance were killed inside a townhouse in the south Ottawa suburb of Barrhaven late Wednesday night.
During a media briefing Thursday afternoon, Ottawa police Chief Eric Stubbs said there were initially two calls to 911 around 10:52 p.m. Wednesday.
He said first responders arrived within minutes to the home on Berrigan Drive near Palmadeo Drive, a residential area close to two schools.
Police have identified five of the victims as a family of newcomers to Canada from Sri Lanka. They are:
Police said Ekanyake’s husband was injured and is currently in hospital in stable condition. He’s since been identified as Dhanushka Wickramasinghe.
Another man, 40-year-old Amarakoonmubiayansela Ge Gamini Amarakoon, was also killed.
Febrio De-Zoysa, 19, is charged with six counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. Police said he is a Sri Lankan national who is believed to be in Canada as a student.
He made his first court appearance late Thursday afternoon. Wearing a black tracksuit jacket, De-Zoysa spoke little, stating his name and birthdate before sitting down.
He was ordered not to contact five people, one of whom is Dhanushka Wickramasinghe.
De-Zoysa’s next court appearance is scheduled for March 14.
Police said De-Zoysa is also an acquaintance of the family and was living in the home at the time of the killings. He was arrested at the scene about 15 kilometres south of Ottawa’s downtown core.
Stubbs said the family’s youngest daughter was born in Canada, and suggested the family members had arrived at different times.
He said Ottawa police had never dealt with either the suspect or the family, and had never been called to that address before Wednesday night.
‘Unimaginable loss’
During Thursday’s update, Stubbs called the killings “a senseless act of violence perpetrated on purely innocent people.”
He offered his condolences to the victims’ loved ones “for this unimaginable loss.”
“This [homicide] will undoubtedly weigh on the hearts of everyone for a very long time,” he said.
A memorial has been set up at nearby Palmadeo Park as police continue to ask people to avoid the scene of the crime.
Ottawa police said there is no ongoing risk to public safety.
Flowers sit at the scene of a homicide where six people were found dead in the Barrhaven suburb of Ottawa on March 7, 2024. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
In a letter to parents sent out Thursday afternoon, the Ottawa Catholic School Board (OCSB) confirmed the two eldest children were students in Grade 2 and junior kindergarten at Monsignor Paul Baxter School.
“Our deepest sympathies and sincerest condolences go to the families and loved ones of the victims during this incredibly challenging time. We cannot imagine the pain and sorrow they must be experiencing,” wrote the school’s principal Vincenza Nicoletti.
The school said grief counselling and crisis support would be available for both students and staff, but said they weren’t providing much more information to students “given the sensitivity surrounding the event.”
Shanti Ramesh, who lives across the street from the scene, told CBC she was watching TV late Wednesday night when she saw the flashing lights of emergency vehicles.
When she went outside, she saw a man screaming.
“I saw a guy was sitting on the driveway and yelling, so the police came and then they took him away,” she said.
Police later identified the man as the father of the family.
Ramesh said she didn’t realize until the following morning that a “major tragedy” had occurred, and said she’s been feeling numb ever since.
“It’s horrible,” she told CBC.
Police confirmed Wednesday’s homicides are considered the worst mass killing in the city’s recent history.
‘Knife-like’ edged weapon used
Stubbs told reporters on Thursday afternoon that an “edged weapon” was used in the homicides.
In an earlier interview on CBC News Network, he had initially called the incident a “mass shooting,” but it was not.
While police did not speculate on a motive for the killings, Stubbs earlier told CBC investigators do not believe it to be a case of intimate partner violence.
“This is a tragic file … and it will greatly impact the city of Ottawa, let alone the immediate neighbourhood in Barrhaven. So obviously we encourage everybody to reach out and get help to help manage themselves through this traumatic event,” he said.
‘I can’t believe it’
After hearing the news early Thursday, Barrhaven resident David Brose came to the scene.
“I’m obviously in shock … it’s tough,” he said, his voice breaking. “I’m just in awe. I can’t believe it.”
WATCH | A neighbour reacts:
Neighbour ‘in shock’ at scene of overnight killings in Barrhaven
37 minutes ago
Duration 0:34
David Brose said he heard on the radio that six people were killed and another was injured overnight. He came to see the scene himself Thursday morning.
Asked about the incident Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed his sadness.
“Obviously our first reactions are all one of shock and horror at this terrible violence,” he said. “We are expecting that the community reaches out to support family and friends, as Canadians always do.”
On social media, Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe called it “one of the most shocking incidents of violence in our city’s history.”
In a later interview on CBC News Network, he said people in the community have been “stunned” by the news.
“In particular I know people are just devastated to hear that children are involved,” Sutcliffe said. “I think that’s what’s most heartbreaking to me and to my family and to all Ottawa residents, is to hear of violence on this scale and to know that children were victims … it’s just really incomprehensible and unimaginable and absolutely devastating.”
WATCH | Mayor Mark Sutcliffe on ‘abhorrent’ violence:
Ottawa stunned by ‘abhorrent’ killings, mayor says
6 hours ago
Duration 0:44
Mayor Mark Sutcliffe says people in Ottawa were devastated to learn of the killings of four children and two adults in Barrhaven.
Nepean MPP Lisa MacLeod, whose riding includes this part of Barrhaven, said the community woke up to shock and grief.
“There are no words for the heartbreak me and my neighbours feel for the surviving family, friends [and] playmates of the deceased,” she said.
My community has woken up to shock, grief and tragedy today as 6 people, including four children, have been murdered. There are no words for the heartbreak me and my neighbours feel for the surviving family, friends & playmates of the deceased. I’ve spoken already this morning…
Coun. Wilson Lo, who represents the area, said on social media that he was “saddened to learn of the tragic loss of six Barrhaven neighbours,” and that his thoughts are with their loved ones and people close by.
Demands for government intervention in Air Canada labour talks could negatively affect airline competition in Canada, the CEO of travel company Transat AT Inc. said.
“The extension of such an extraordinary intervention to Air Canada would be an undeniable competitive advantage to the detriment of other Canadian airlines,” Annick Guérard told analysts on an earnings conference call on Thursday.
“The time and urgency is now. It is time to restore healthy competition in Canada,” she added.
Air Canada has asked the federal government to be ready to intervene and request arbitration as early as this weekend to avoid disruptions.
Comments on the potential Air Canada pilot strike or lock out came as Transat reported third-quarter financial results.
Guérard recalled Transat’s labour negotiations with its flight attendants earlier this year, which the company said it handled without asking for government intervention.
The airline’s 2,100 flight attendants voted 99 per cent in favour of a strike mandate and twice rejected tentative deals before approving a new collective agreement in late February.
As the collective agreement for Air Transat pilots ends in June next year, Guérard anticipates similar pressure to increase overall wages as seen in Air Canada’s negotiations, but reckons it will come out “as a win, win, win deal.”
“The pilots are preparing on their side, we are preparing on our side and we’re confident that we’re going to come up with a reasonable deal,” she told analysts when asked about the upcoming negotiations.
The parent company of Air Transat reported it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31. The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
It attributed reduced revenues to lower airline unit revenues, competition, industry-wide overcapacity and economic uncertainty.
Air Transat is also among the airlines facing challenges related to the recall of Pratt & Whitney turbofan jet engines for inspection and repair.
The recall has so far grounded six aircraft, Guérard said on the call.
“We have agreed to financial compensation for grounded aircraft during the 2023-2024 period,” she said. “Alongside this financial compensation, Pratt & Whitney will provide us with two additional spare engines, which we intend to monetize through a sell and lease back transaction.”
Looking ahead, the CEO said she expects consumer demand to remain somewhat uncertain amid high interest rates.
“We are currently seeing ongoing pricing pressure extending into the winter season,” she added. Air Transat is not planning on adding additional aircraft next year but anticipates stability.
“(2025) for us will be much more stable than 2024 in terms of fleet movements and operation, and this will definitely have a positive effect on cost and customer satisfaction as well,” the CEO told analysts.
“We are more and more moving away from all the disruption that we had to go through early in 2024,” she added.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
