‘It’s grim:’ Community devastated by shooting deaths in Sault Ste. Marie

SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. –

Neighbours are expressing devastation at shootings that left five people, including three children, dead in the northern Ontario city of Sault Ste. Marie.

A property on Second Line East where five people – including three children and a shooter – were found dead in the northern Ontario city of Sault Ste. Marie is seen Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Bob Davies)

Police have described the Monday night shootings, that also left the shooter dead, as a tragic case of intimate partner violence.

Aarika Bonin lives down the street from the home where the children — aged six, seven and 12 — were found dead and says the entire situation is grim.

Bonin says she and her husband saw police vehicles rushing to the street on Monday night, saw officers running back and forth and paramedics arriving but didn’t know what was going on at the time.

She says she didn’t know the family personally but the children seemed happy and had decorated their yard recently for Halloween.

Halloween decorations could be seen in the front windows and on the porch of the home where the children were found while police tape surrounded the residence. Two pick-up trucks were parked in the driveway.

Bonin says she’s been holding her own kids closer as she processes what happened just a few doors down in what is typically a quiet neighbourhood.

“You can feel it in the air outside, like it’s grim,” she said.

“I stand outside to put my son on the bus and it’s sad … it’s just a sad day for the whole community and the families involved. It’s going to be sad for a while.”

Investigators have not released any information on the identities of those involved but say the shootings were not a random act of violence.

Police say they first found the body of a 41-year-old, dead from a gunshot wound, around 10:20 p.m. Monday after someone called to report a break-and-enter at a home.

About 10 minutes later, officers got a call for someone with a weapon at a home about three kilometres north from the previous residence and found the three children shot dead, and a 45-year-old injured with a gunshot wound.

They say officers also found the 44-year-old shooter, who appeared to have died after a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Matthew Shoemaker says what happened is an “unspeakable tragedy” and he hopes the results of the police investigation will spur change.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 25, 2023.