So obviously we encourage everybody to reach out and get help to help manage themselves through this traumatic event," he said. "This is a tragic file … and it will greatly impact the city of Ottawa, let alone the immediate neighbourhood in Barrhaven. 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. In an earlier interview on CBC News Network, he had initially called the incident a "mass shooting," but it was not. Stubbs told reporters on Thursday afternoon that a edged "knife-like" edged weapon was used in the homicides. Police confirmed Wednesday's homicides are considered the worst mass killing in the city's recent history. He came to see the scene himself Thursday morning. He made his first court appearance late Thursday afternoon.ĭuration 0:34 David Brose said he heard on the radio that six people were killed and another was injured overnight. On Thursday evening, Algonquin College president Claude Brulé released a statement confirming De-Zoysa was a student at the college and that "it appears his last semester of attendance was winter 2023." Police said he is a Sri Lankan national who is believed to be in Canada as a student. He's since been identified as Dhanushka Wickramasinghe.Īnother man, 40-year-old Gamini Amarakoon Amarakoon Mudiyanselage, was also killed.įebrio De-Zoysa, 19, is charged with six counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. Police said Ekanayake's husband was injured and is currently in hospital in stable condition. Two-month-old daughter Kelly Wickramasinghe.Three-year-old daughter Ranaya Wickramasinghe.Four-year-old daughter Ashwini Wickramasinghe.Seven-year-old son Inuka Wickramasinghe.35-year-old mother Bandaranayake Gama Walawwe Darshani Dilanthika Ekanayake.Police have identified five of the victims as a family of newcomers to Canada from Sri Lanka:
He said first responders arrived within minutes to the home on Berrigan Drive near Palmadeo Drive, a residential area close to two schools. 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.ĭuring a media briefing Thursday afternoon, Ottawa police Chief Eric Stubbs said there were initially two calls to 911 around 10:52 p.m.