Three people including the suspected gunman were killed in a series of shootings in Canadian province of British Columbia early Monday that targeted a casino, a center for the homeless and other locations, said authorities, according to news agency AP. The attacks in the early hours in the bedroom community of Langley continued till dawn. The gunman had targeted a casino initially and more shootings followed at 3 am, 5 am and 5:45 am including a residential complex that offers support to people transitioning out of homelessness. Shootings also took place at a bus stop and highway, according to the police.
The alert described the suspect as a white man in overalls and a camouflage T-shirt. According to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the emergency response team confronted the suspect not far from a highway bypass where a man was seen with a gunshot to his leg.
It is that time officers shot the gunman dead, said Ghalib Bhayani, superintendent of the mounted police, according to the AP report. The shooter has been identified as Jordan Daniel Goggin, 28, of Surrey, British Columbia. The Police is investigating the motive.
One of worst mass shootings in Canada’s history took place in 2020, when a gunman driving a fake police car fired at 13 people and killed another nine in a fire he set in Portapique, Nova Scotia.
Even as Canada’s gun homicide rate is less than one-fifth the US rate, it is higher than that of other rich countries and still on the rise, according to Statistics Canada.