Canadian College Student Arrested For 6 Murders - Including A Mother & Her 4 Young Children

[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]

A Canadian college student has been arrested and charged with six counts of murder after police say he slaughtered a family with an “edged weapon.”

Per reports from Reuters, CBC, and others, police in the Canadian capital of Ottawa, Ontario took 19-year-old Febrio De-Zoysa into custody on Thursday after reports of severe injuries at a home in the Barrhaven area. When cops arrived on the scene late Thursday morning, they found the dead bodies of six people, along with a survivor who was severely injured.

The deceased victims include a 35-year-old mother and immigrant to Canada from Sri Lanka named Darshani Banbaranayake Gama Walwwe Darshani Dilanthika Ekanyake. Also killed in the attack were her four children: Inuka Wickramasinghe, 7, Ashwini Wickramasinghe, 4, Rinyana Wickramasinghe, 2, and Kelly Wickramasinghe, who was just 2 months old.

OMG no…

Police say a 40-year-old man named Amarakoonmubiayansela Ge Gamini Amarakoon was also murdered. He was reportedly an acquaintance of the family and had been renting a room in their home. Plus, the father of those four kids — and Darshani’s husband — was severely wounded in the attack and rushed to the hospital for medical treatment, per Reuters.

As for De-Zoysa, he is also a Sri Lankan national who had been living in the family’s home. He had immigrated to Canada recently to attend college. Per cops, it is not yet clear why he attacked the family. Cops told media outlets they had no prior dealings with the family, and no reports of prior incidents at the home.

Not much more information has been released, other than confirmation the killer used the aforementioned “edged weapon,” and that De-Zoysa has been charged with six counts of homicide. In a news conference, Ottawa police chief Eric Stubbs said:

“This was a senseless act of violence perpetrated on purely innocent people.”

Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe added this in a post on X (Twitter) later on Thursday:

“I was devastated to learn of the multiple homicide in Barrhaven, one of the most shocking incidents of violence in our city’s history. We are proud to live in a safe community but this news is distressing to all Ottawa residents.”

Here’s more on the awful case (below):