A man was arrested Sunday on suspicion of killing five people, including three children who were pulled from a burning car in Manitoba, police said.
The 29-year-old man, whose name has not been released, is accused of a series of murders in three linked incidents in rural communities on Sunday morning. None of the victims have been publicly identified.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said they were first called at 7:30 a.m. Sunday following a hit-and-run near Carman, southwest of Winnipeg, in the province of Manitoba.
Officers found a woman in a nearby ditch. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Then, at 10 a.m., police were called to a car fire about 40 miles north in the rural municipality of Cartier. A witness removed the bodies of three children from the burning car while police were en route.
“As officers entered the scene, a witness managed to remove three young children from a burning vehicle,” said Inspector Tim Arseneault of the RCMP’s major crimes unit at a press conference on Sunday. . “Tragically, all three children were pronounced dead at the scene.”
The suspect was arrested at the scene of the car fire.
Officers then found the body of a fifth person, another woman, on a property in the small rural town of Carman.
“It appears that the detained adult man and the five deceased people knew each other,” said Mr. Arseneault.
The crime continues to be investigated by at least three RCMP agencies, including forensic identification specialists and a collision reconstruction unit.
“As a parent, I simply cannot imagine the enormity of your loss,” Arseneault said in his comments. reported by CBC. “The community of Carman and surrounding areas will also be in mourning, having lost some of their youngest residents in such a tragic way.”
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew paid tribute to the victims and sent his condolences to their families.
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