Four people, including two police officers, have been killed in a shooting in eastern Canada in the latest eruption of gun violence across the country that has led to calls for weapons bans in cities.
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Police in Fredericton, a city of about 56,000 that is the capital of the province of New Brunswick, said a suspect was taken into custody and was being treated for serious injuries.
A local health official said that multiple shooting victims were being treated a one hospital.
Witnesses said Friday's shooting occurred at an apartment complex, and local media images showed emergency vehicles converging on a tree-lined residential street.
Nearby facilities were closed and authorities imposed a lockdown for residents before issuing an all-clear message.
Officials identified the slain officers as Sara May Burns, 43, and Lawrence Robb Costello, 45.
They did not release the names of the two civilians who were killed, and said only that the suspect was a 48-year-old Fredericton man. They did not release information about a possible motive or the weapon.
"It was scary," said Marlene Weaver, who was in bed on Friday morning when she heard shots ring out in her neighbourhood. "It takes you back to the shooting in Moncton."
She was referring to an incident in 2014, when three Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers were killed and two wounded in Moncton, New Brunswick, about 195 km from Fredericton, in one of the worst incidents of its kind in Canada.
The latest incident occurred just three weeks after a gunman killed two people and wounding 13 others on a street in Toronto before taking his own life.
Canadian Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale told reporters he could not discuss details of the latest shooting.
Gun laws in Canada are stricter than in the US but a proliferation of weapons has led to an increase in gun-related crimes in recent years.
New Brunswick had three homicide shootings in the entire year of 2016, according to Statistics Canada.
"Awful news coming out of Fredericton," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Twitter. "My heart goes out to everyone affected by this morning's shooting. We're following the situation closely."
In the wake of the Toronto bloodshed last month, the city council voted overwhelmingly to urge the federal government, which has jurisdiction over gun laws, to ban the sale of handguns in the city.
"Why does anyone in this city need to have a gun at all?" Toronto Mayor John Tory said. Canada's largest city has had 241 shooting incidents this year, resulting in 30 deaths, a 30 per cent increase in fatalities.
Bill Blair, the government minister tasked with tackling gun violence, said officials are considering giving provinces the power to designate gun-free cities.
In 2016 Canada had 0.61 firearm-related homicides per 100,000 people, a 23 per cent increase from 2015 and the highest rate since 2005, according to Statistics Canada. For the United States, the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation reported 3.85 deaths per 100,000 that year.
Canada's Liberal government unveiled proposals in March to tighten already tough gun control laws to address a spike in crimes involving firearms, including a deadly attack on a mosque last year.
Australian Associated Press