A 48-year-old man has been charged in the killings of four people in the New Brunswick city of Fredericton, police said, and investigators were working to determine a motive.
The suspect is Matthew Vincent Raymond of Fredericton, the capital of the Canadian province.
He was charged Saturday with four counts of first-degree murder in connection with Friday’s shooting. Raymond is in custody and faces a court appearance on August 27.
The victims included two Fredericton police officers, Lawrence Robert Costello, 45, and Sara Burns, 43. Both of them were constables. Costello leaves behind his partner and four children, Fitch said, while Burns is survived by her husband and three children, police said.
Two Fredericton residents also were slain – Donald Adam Robichaud, 42, and Bobbie Lee Wright, 32.
The shooting took place Friday morning near an apartment building on Brookside Drive in Fredericton. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police New Brunswick’s Major Crime Unit is requesting help from the public.
The officers responded to a call of shots fired at an apartment building shortly after 7 a.m., police said Friday.
After Costello and Burns were shot, additional Fredericton officers responded and engaged the suspect. The officers fired their weapons, and about 9:30 a.m. they entered an apartment and arrested the suspect.
At a press conference Saturday afternoon, Fredericton police Chief Leanne Fitch and Deputy Chief Martin Gaudet provided more details about the shooting.
Investigators are working on but haven’t established a link between the civilian victims and the shooter.
The shooter used a long gun from “an elevated position,” police said. Authorities couldn’t share information about the firearm’s registration.
The shooter, they said, was struck by police. Initial reports suggested multiple people were injured in the shooting. Officials said Saturday that only five people were involved – the suspect and the four killed.
Police said they didn’t have any information about whether the suspect was known to authorities and there was nothing to indicate police were targeted.
When the two officers arrived at the scene Friday, they found the two civilians had been fatally wounded. Costello and Burns then were shot.
Police said the city of Fredericton and the Red Cross got alternative lodging for about 50 residents displaced from their homes because of the shooting, according to CNN network partner CTV.