A 60-year-old man was arrested after allegedly killing 4 individuals in a “focused” sequence of shootings on Monday, the police in British Columbia mentioned.
The gunman, who the authorities had not named as of Tuesday morning, killed two males and two ladies in three areas inside about three miles of one another within the metropolis of Penticton, mentioned Ted De Jager, superintendent of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The primary taking pictures was reported at 10:30 a.m., and the suspect had turned himself in by 11:30 a.m., he mentioned.
The victims weren’t recognized, pending notification of their households. However the police mentioned they believed the gunman knew all the victims.
“Whereas the investigation stays energetic and ongoing, we do consider this was a focused incident,” Mr. De Jager mentioned at a information convention on Monday.
The taking pictures was the deadliest on report in Penticton, a metropolis of about 34,000 individuals that’s a couple of four-and-a-half-hour drive from Vancouver. All through the province, mass shootings are uncommon: It was solely the fifth taking pictures in British Columbia that killed greater than 4 individuals. The final such taking pictures was in 1996, according to Penticton Western News.
It was not instantly identified what kind of gun had been used within the assaults.
Gun house owners in Canada should be licensed. Earlier than a license is granted, officers test the customer’s previous for any violent crimes or conduct, crimes involving firearms or violent episodes associated to psychological sickness within the previous 5 years.
Handguns, semiautomatic and automated weapons should be registered with the federal authorities, however lawmakers eradicated a nationwide registry of rifles and shotguns in 2012.
Final yr, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau proposed increasing the background evaluate to the licensee’s complete lifetime whereas resuming the record-keeping for some rifle and shotgun sales, prompting a fierce pushback from some gun house owners.
The nationwide long-gun registry, launched in 1995 in response to a mass taking pictures of scholars in Montreal, was unpopular in rural areas however supported by the police. Lawmakers in Quebec voted in 2016 to create the province’s own registry, over the protests of gun house owners.
Officers have pointed to a latest improve in a number of gun-related crimes, together with gun-related homicides. Canada’s murder fee reached a 10-year high last year, pushed largely by gang-related shootings, in keeping with a authorities report.
Debates over gun legal guidelines heated up in Canada final yr after a shooting in Toronto killed two individuals and wounded 13 others in July. In response, town council recommended the federal authorities ban handgun gross sales within the metropolis, whereas the Montreal Metropolis Council called for a national ban on the weapons.