Wickramasinghe family
A foreign student has been charged with killing his host family of six people in Ottawa.
Febrio De-Zoysa, 19, from Sri Lanka, is charged with six counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.
Ottawa Police say the deceased are Darshani Banbaranayake Gama Walwwe Darshani Dilanthika Ekanyake. 35, who is the mother of the children; Inuka Wickramasinghe, 7, Ashwini Wickramasinghe, 4,
Rinyana Wickramasinghe, 2, and Kelly Wickramasinghe, two months old. Also, found deceased was Ge Gamini Amarakoon, 40, who was an acquaintance of the family who had been living at the home. He recently arrived in Canada.
A man, who is the father and husband of the victims was found at scene and was injured. He was taken to hospital where he remains in serious but stable condition.
Police say an edged weapon was used to kill the family.
“To be clear, this was a mass killing not a mass shooting,” said Ottawa Police Chief Eric Stubbs.
At about 10:52 p.m. on March 6, the Ottawa Police Service received two 911 calls from the Berrigan Dr. area reporting a suspicious incident where a man was yelling for help asking people to call 911. As multiple police units began to arrive, officers identified a suspect who was arrested without incident. Paramedics were also called and began to arrive.
Officers entered the home to check on the safety of those inside and that is where they began to discover the six victims. The family are newcomers to Canada and are originally from Sri Lanka.
“We have been working to advise the families of the deceased, many of whom are overseas,” said Chief Stubbs.
“We know there are a lot of questions about why this tragedy occurred. This is the focus of our homicide unit as they diligently investigate this tragic crime. Our investigators and Forensic teams are working very hard to determine all of the facts and ensure justice is done. But that also means we must maintain the integrity of the investigation for court.”
