‘Terrible tragedy’: Canada rocked by mass killing of Sri Lankan family

The victims of a rare Ottawa mass killing included four children and two adults. A 19-year-old acquaintance was arrested.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has condemned the mass killing of an Ottawa family that had recently moved from Sri Lanka, calling it an act of “terrible violence”.

Trudeau’s comments on Thursday came in the hours after a family and their acquaintance were killed in an apparent late-night stabbing in the Ottawa suburb of Barrhaven.

The victims include a 35-year-old woman and her four children, ages seven, four, two and two months. A 40-year-old family friend was also killed.

The attack has resonated across Canada, which, unlike its southern neighbour the United States, rarely sees mass casualty attacks. There were just 14 murders in Ottawa, a city of one million, in 2023. The year prior, the tally was only 15.

“Obviously, our first reactions are all ones of shock and horror at this terrible violence,” Trudeau told reporters.