960406

10 killed in

Canada's 2nd

worst-shooting

spree

VERNON, (British Columbia): An estranged husband on Friday shot and killed nine people including his wife, wounded two others and then killed himself in Canada's second-worst mass shooting, police said.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the gunman entered an upper middle-class home on Friday morning and opened fire on guests preparing for the wedding later that day of his wife's sister.

The gunman's wife, from whom he recently separated, and the bride-to-be were among those killed in the shooting, which shocked this city of 23,500 residents in British Columbia's scenic wine country about 180 miles (300 km) northeast of Vancouver.

An elderly woman and a six-year-old girl were in a hospital with gunshot wounds. Two children in the house were unharmed.

RCMP Sgt. Doug Hartel told a news conference that "the suspect went to the residence with more than one weapon and as a result of him going in and shooting we are now left with nine deceased victims as well as himself, who was shot."

The gunman was found dead later at a nearby motel. Police said he left a note apologising for the massacre and that there were several weapons beside his body.

The victims were members of the East Indian community, police said. Media reports said the bride-to-be's future husband was on his way to Vernon when the shootings occurred.

Authorities found six people dead when they arrived at the house. One victim lay dead in a pool of blood in the driveway of the residence. Three other victims died later at a hospital.

Neighbour Jeremy Pelletier told the Canadian Press news agency that "I heard shots, a lady screaming and then pop, pop. The driveway is quite a mess. There's a guy lying in front of the car. He was pretty shot up."

Canada's worst multiple murder happened in 1989 when a gunman, Marc Lepine, killed 14 women at the University of Montreal before shooting himself.-Reuter