(Reuters) – Canadian police on Thursday identified the two men killed in a shooting spree in British Columbia earlier this week, which prompted the province to issue a rare public safety alert.
Three people, including the suspected gunman, were killed and two others were wounded in the incident that started at around midnight and continued until the morning on Monday in the city of Langley, a suburb of Vancouver.
Police named 60 year-old Paul David Wynn and 43-year old Steven Furness as the two victims who died.
Multiple shootings are much less common in Canada than in the United States, partly due to Canada’s stricter gun laws than its southern neighbor. Canadians are allowed to own firearms as long as they have a license.
A 26 year-old woman who was shot remains in critical condition in hospital, while a 26 year-old man has non life-threatening injuries from the incident, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s homicide investigation team said in a statement.
The alert, which led to suggestions the victims were homeless, was used only for the second time ever in the province. Police later said they could not confirm whether the victims were homeless while officers carried out an investigation.
“Hopefully Steven’s tragic death will put a spotlight on the plight of the homeless and vulnerable in society,” the family of Furness, who was shot at a bus stop, said in a statement shared by police on Thursday.
Wynn’s family said, “Paul was the poster child of the family he worked so hard for everything he had.”
Police said they had not yet establish a motive for the shooting and sought information from public to aid their investigation.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; Editing by David Gregorio)
