Some 200 people showed up at a public multi-faith funeral service in Ottawa Sunday to mourn the six people killed more than a week ago in the city’s Barrhaven suburb.
Organized by the Buddhist Congress of Canada (BCC), the service at the Infinity Convention Centre paid tribute to the victims: a family of newcomers to Canada from Sri Lanka and their friend.
According to police, four children and two adults were killed inside a suburban townhouse in south Ottawa on March 6.
Darshani Dilanthika Ekanayake, 35, was killed along with her three daughters — three-year-old Ranaya, four-year-old Ashwini, and two-month-old Kelly — and her seven-year-old son Inuka.
The body of a family friend, 40-year-old Gamini Amarakoon, who’d recently arrived in Canada from Sri Lanka, was also found at the scene.
Dhanushka Wickramasinghe, the family’s father, survived the attack. He was injured with an edged weapon and taken to hospital.
The Wickramasinghe family at daughter Ranaya’s third birthday party earlier this month. From left: father Dhanushka Wickramasinghe; two-month-old daughter Kelly; daughters Ashwini, 4, and Ranaya, 3; son Inuka, 7; and mother Darshani Dilanthika Ekanayake, 35. (Facebook)
Buddhist monks from Toronto and Ottawa led prayers and performed traditional funeral customs at Sunday’s service.
They also thanked Ottawa’s first responders for their work.
In a video message played at the funeral, Dishani Asangika Fernando, Amarakoon’s wife, thanked him for being “a lovely husband [and] an amazing father all the time.”
“I have a lot to tell, but right now I am speechless,” she said.
“You [came here] to give a good future for our kids. But all our dreams just faded away in a way we never thought of.”
Buddhist prayer opens Ottawa funeral for mass killing victims
The Buddhist Congress of Canada held a public multi-faith funeral service in Ottawa to pay tribute to a family of newcomers to Canada from Sri Lanka and their friend who were killed in the Barrhaven suburb.
‘We are still devastated’
Before the funeral, BCC president Naradha Kodituwakku told CBC News Network the tragedy is deeply affecting Sri Lankan and immigrant families in Barrhaven.
“For them to come here and have their life ended in such a short term … we were devastated. We are still devastated,” Kodituwakku said.
Pradeep Balasubramanian, who is Sri Lankan and lives in Toronto, came to the funeral to pass on a message from his family to Wickramasinghe and his relatives.
“Get well soon, and we will be with them always,” Balasubramanian said.
Pradeep Balasubramanian, who is Sri Lankan, came from Toronto to attend the public funeral. He wanted to pass on a message of support to Wickramasinghe, who survived the attack, and his relatives. (Safiyah Marhnouj/CBC)
‘Your community is with you,’ says mayor
Bhagya Jayaweera said she’s been following the news since the killings happened, but standing in front of the hearses for the victims “made it very, very real.”
Jayaweera said she wanted to pay her respects and offer peace to the victims’ souls.
“A whole family ripped apart … their father was taken away from them. I can’t imagine,” she said.
Several Canadian dignitaries spoke at the funeral, including Liberal MPs Gary Anandasangaree and Chandra Arya, Progressive Conservative MPP Lisa MacLeod and Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe.
“I want you to know your community is with you,” Sutcliffe told the victims’ families. “We must pull together as a community in a time like this.
“There are more difficult days ahead. This will be an unimaginable time for these families in the days and weeks and months ahead … we will honour the memories of your family members.”
Dhanushka Wickramasinghe, right, takes part in Sunday’s funeral service. Wickramsinghe survived the attack that led to the deaths of his wife, their four young children and a family friend. (Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press)
Suspect in protective custody, lawyer says
Febrio De-Zoysa, 19, has been charged with six counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.
De-Zoysa was living with the family when he allegedly killed them late at night. He was also a former student at Algonquin College.
A court sketch of 19-year-old Febrio De-Zoysa, who has been charged with six counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. (Lauren Foster-MacLeod)
His lawyer, Ewan Lyttle, told reporters on Thursday that De-Zoysa is in protective custody due to the seriousness of the charges against him,
Lyttle said Thursday it was too early to talk about a mental health assessment.
None of the charges against De-Zoysa have been proven and court has not heard any evidence surrounding the circumstances of the crimes.
HOUSTON (AP) — Brian White scored in the second half to rally the Vancouver Whitecaps to a 1-1 draw with the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday night.
Houston (12-9-8) took a 1-0 lead into halftime after Ezequiel Ponce scored on a penalty kick in the seventh minute of stoppage time. Ponce’s third goal this season came after Amine Bassi drew a foul on Whitecaps midfielder Pedro Vite following a video review. It was Ponce’s sixth career appearance, all starts.
Vancouver (13-8-7) scored the equalizer in the 73rd minute when White, who entered in the 60th, used assists from Fafá Picault and Ryan Gauld to find the net for the 13th time this season. Picault’s assist was his fifth, matching his career high for a single season. Gauld’s assist gives him a career-best 13 on the season.
Yohei Takaoka, who had clean sheets in his last three starts, finished with one save in goal for the Whitecaps.
Steve Clark saved three shots for the Dynamo, who remain one point behind Vancouver in the Western Conference standings.
Houston, which was coming off a 4-1 victory over Real Salt Lake, has allowed just 33 goals this season.
Vancouver — 6-2-2 in its last 10 matches overall — leads the all-time series 10-9-6.
The Whitecaps remain on the road to play the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday. The Dynamo travel to play Austin FC on Saturday.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Tom Pearce and Nathan Saliba scored in the second half — the first goals of their careers — and CF Montreal rallied for a 2-2 draw with the New England Revolution on Wednesday night.
“In the second half, the guys came out a little more ambitious and above all, more connected,” Montreal head coach Laurent Courtois said. “It was a great second half of resilience and fighting spirit. Nathan and Sam were impressive.
“Impressive in covering the gaps and compensating for the teammates, and the individual defending – yes it’s true, it is a lot of weight on their shoulders, but that’s the job.”
New England (8-16-4) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 24th minute on Bobby Wood’s third goal of the season. Teenage defender Peyton Miller notched his first assist in his fourth career start and sixth appearance and Carles Gil picked up his ninth of the season. Peyton, at 16 years, 315 days old, is the eighth youngest player in league history to record his first assist.
The Revolution took a two-goal lead in the 35th minute and held it through halftime when 19-year-old Esmir Bajraktarevic took a pass from Gil and scored his third goal of the season and career in his first full season in the league. It was the 73rd regular-season assist in Gil’s career, tying him with Steve Ralston for the most in club history.
Montreal (7-12-10) pulled within a goal in the 54th minute when Pearce scored off a free kick after defender George Campbell drew a foul on New England’s Mark-Anthony Kaye. It was the first goal for Pearce in his third career start and fourth appearance.
“Playoffs are the goal. Maybe it wasn’t in the best form, but in the end, we are picking up a point,” Pearce said. “We came into this game confident, ready to play our own game. Everyone tries their best, whenever the players are called on, we are always ready, and we are always giving it our best.”
Montreal scored the equalizer in the 68th minute on the first career goal by Saliba, a 20-year-old midfielder. Saliba has made 34 starts and 48 appearances with Montreal in his two seasons in the league. Campbell snagged his second assist of the season and the third of his career.
“It’s an incredible feeling, it’s a goal I’ve been waiting for a long time. I’m extremely happy that I was able to score it and that it can help the team take this important point on the road,” Saliba said. “Pearce’s first goal gave us really good momentum and we kept up the pressure to go for a second goal. We got more solid defensively, and we came back ready after halftime, to push for these 3 points.”
Aljaz Ivacic finished with four saves in goal for the Revolution.
Jonathan Sirois stopped four shots for Montreal.
New England beat Montreal 5-0 on the road on Aug. 24.
New England leads the all-time series 16-13-4. Montreal improves to 5-8-2 on the road against the Revs.
The Revolution travel to take on Charlotte FC on Saturday. Montreal returns home to host the Chicago Fire on Saturday.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Adolis García hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning, Cody Bradford pitched seven strong innings after the worst start of his career, and the Texas Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 2-0 on Wednesday night.
The win kept the defending World Series-champion Rangers alive in the AL West race, trailing first-place Houston by 10 games with 10 to play.
García launched an inside sinker over the left-field wall off Toronto starter Bowden Francis (8-5) after Wyatt Langford singled.
“He swings hard, he swings a lot,” Francis said of García. “I guess the velo was dropping during that time.”
Bradford (6-3) allowed five hits and no walks while striking out six.
The seven shutout innings are the most in a game during his two-year career. He was knocked out of his previous start after allowing career highs in hits (nine), runs (eight) and homers (three) in 3 2/3 innings in a 14-4 loss at Arizona.
“Throughout the week, you’ve got to try and digest what happened, see where I can make adjustments, whether it was just game plan went wrong or just poor execution, or a little bit of both,” Bradford said. “Then you flush it.”
Bradford was perfect through four innings before Alejandro Kirk opened the fifth with a smash back to the mound that caromed off Bradford’s left foot and rolled into right field for a single. It extended Kirk’s hitting streak to a career-high 12 games.
Spencer Horwitz’s double to left-center put runners on second and third with no outs before Bradford retired the next three batters.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider credited Bradford’s “deceptive fastball.”
“When you’re throwing 89, 92, you’ve got to have pretty good deception with that at this level,” Schneider said. “Kept us off balance.”
Kirby Yates pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 31st save in 32 opportunities.
Francis, who took no-hitters into the ninth inning in two of his previous four starts, allowed a double to Marcus Semien, the Rangers’ first hitter of the game. He gave up five hits and one walk in six innings.
Francis has a 1.96 ERA in nine starts with 54 strikeouts and seven walks since being moved back into the starting rotation in late July.
“I don’t even want to get complacent, on cruise control,” Francis said. “Just keep attacking.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Blue Jays: SS Bo Bichette was a late scratch with a right middle finger contusion suffered during infield practice. Schneider said the team will get back x-rays on Thursday. Bichette was activated Tuesday following a calf injury and played for the first time in two months, going 2 for 5 with one RBI at the plate. … INF Will Wagner (left knee inflammation) will have the knee scoped on Thursday. Schneider said Wagner should be ready to start spring training. Wagner, son of former major leaguer Billy Wagner, was acquired from Houston at the trade deadline.
UP NEXT
Rangers rookie RHP Kumar Rocker (0-0, 2.25 ERA) will make his home debut against Blue Jays RHP Kevin Gausman (12-11, 4.02) in the series finale. Rocker allowed one run in four innings at Seattle last Thursday in his major league debut.
