Mom And Wife, Her 4 Children And Another Person Massacred By 18yo Male Renting Room

Sri Lankan 35yo wife and mom, her 4 children ages 7, 4, 2, 2mos and an acquaintance living with the family were massacred by 19yo Sri Lankan male living with them on student visa. Father survived.

Ottowa Citizen 3/7/24: Ottawa police responded to 911 calls at 10:52 p.m. and officers arriving on the scene “quickly arrested” a suspect. Upon entering the home, police discovered the nightmare that had left six dead, including a mother and her four children.

Ottawa Police Service Chief Eric Stubbs said it was the worst mass killing in the city’s recent history.

“With six people deceased, that’s significant,” Stubbs said. “The community is going to be greatly impacted, the City of Ottawa, let alone the specific neighbourhood. We’re thinking of them and sending all empathy to those involved. Family, friends and neighbours.”

The deceased are Darshani Banbaranayake Gama Walwwe Darshani Dilanthika Ekanyake, a 35-year-old wife and mother; her seven-year-old son Inuka Wickramasinghe; four-year-old daughter Ashwini Wickramasinghe; two-year-old daughter Rinyana Wickramasinghe; two-month-old daughter Kelly Wickramasinghe; and Amarakoonmubiayansela Ge Gamini Amarakoon, a 40-year-old acquaintance of the family who was also living in the home.

The father and husband, who has been identified by CBC as Dhanushka Wickramasinghe, was found injured at the scene. He remained in hospital in serious, but stable condition as of mid-afternoon Thursday.

Febrio De-Zoysa, a 19-year-old student from Sri Lanka who was living with the family, has been charged with six counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. According to Stubbs, he’s the only suspect. Stubbs said an “edged” or “knife-life” weapon was found at the scene.

He is from Sri Lanka and is believed to be in Canada as a student, Stubbs said.

A religious leader who knew the Wickramasinghe family said the father told him in the hospital that they had thrown a birthday party for the alleged killer just days earlier.

The resident monk at Hilda Jayewardenaramaya Buddhist Monastery, which the family attended, Suneetha said the father told him that nothing seemed “wrong” in the lead-up to the rampage.