OTTAWA, Ontario—Police in Canada’s capital, Ottawa, were investigating Thursday the deaths of six people including four children and two adults found in a house in the southern part of the city.
A seventh person is in hospital with serious, but non-life-threatening injuries.
Police were called to the home in the Barrhaven area at around 11 p.m. Wednesday night.
A suspect was arrested quickly after that and police said there is no ongoing threat to public safety. It was not immediately announced how the victims died.
Ottawa Police Chief Eric Stubbs told local radio stations that police do not believe the deaths were the result of domestic or intimate partner violence.
However, he said they’re also still trying to determine the relationship between the suspect and the victims.
Mr. Stubbs said it was a “very tragic scene.”
Neither the identities of the deceased nor the age or identity of the person in hospital have been confirmed.
Police said investigative teams remain at the site and asked anyone with information to contact the homicide unit.
On Thursday morning, five marked police cars were parked on the street and in driveways near the home, which is a middle unit of a row of brick townhouses.
Several people in white jumpsuits were going in and out of the home throughout the early morning, while parents and kids walked and biked by on their way to a nearby elementary school.
Ahmed Saed was walking his son to the school about a block away from the home Thursday. He lives nearby and walks his son past the home every morning.
“This is unbelievable for the whole neighborhood,” Mr. Saed said
Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe called the news distressing for all of the city’s residents.
“I was devastated to learn of the multiple homicide in Barrhaven, one of the most shocking incidents of violence in our city’s history,” Mr. Sutcliffe said in a post on X. “We are proud to live in a safe community but this news is distressing to all Ottawa residents.”
Police said a media update would be provided later Thursday.
