Five people found dead after shooting in home east of Toronto, police say

OSHAWA, Ont. — Durham Regional Police say five people were found dead and another with serious injuries in a home east of Toronto after an early morning shooting.

A spokesman says multiple calls came in around 1:20 a.m. reporting the sound of gunshots from a home in Oshawa, Ont.

Const. George Tudos says four of the deceased are believed to be men and one of them is believed to be a woman, but adds police are waiting on the coroner to confirm ages.

Tudos says officers also found another woman in the house with a gunshot wound, who was sent to a local hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

Investigators believe the shooter is among the dead. Police are not looking for any more suspects and there are no community safety concerns.

Police initially believed there were four people dead and one injured, but later updated that another person had died.

There had been an miscommunication because police usually do not include the suspect as one of the victims, Tudos said.

“We couldn’t confirm until we went back in because we locked up the scene to avoid contaminating it.”

He told reporters at the scene early Friday that police were waiting for the homicide team to arrive to get a better understanding of what happened.

Carol Gibson, who lives down the street from the crime scene, said she was startled awake by the incident.

“The first shot woke me up, and then I heard about four or five more after that,” Gibson said in an interview. “Then a woman screamed and there were two shots after that.”

Gibson said she had known the family in the house for around 20 years.

“They were a family that cared for each other quite a bit,” said Gibson. “If they weren’t playing baseball, hockey or shooting hoops on the driveway, they were out raking leaves and they did it as a family. A very caring family.”

Gibson said nothing like this has happened on the street before.

A forensic team arrived on the scene Friday morning and will assist the force’s homicide unit with the investigation, Durham police said on Twitter.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 4, 2020.

The Canadian Press