Nine killed in Canada mass murder

A man shot dead eight people before finally killing himself in Canada's western city of Edmonton on Tuesday.

Seven of the victims, including three women, two men and two children, were found in the same house, Edmonton Police Chief Rod Knecht told reporters. The eighth victim was a woman.

"It's a tragic day for Edmonton…with this multiple murder of eight people," Knecht said.

The events are believed to have unfolded late Monday in southern Edmonton where a man fired his weapon on a female victim and fled the scene. The suspected killer then headed to the north of the city, where he killed another seven people at a residence.

The bodies of the victims were found after officers checked on reports of a depressed, suicidal male earlier in the evening, the Associated Press reported.

The suspected killer, who has not been identified, was found early Tuesday in a northeastern suburb after he committed suicide.

Mass killings are extremely rare in Edmonton, which has a population of 878,000. The last killing of this kind happened in 1956, when six people were murdered.

mg/cmk (AFP, dpa, AP)