Family IDs gunman in Sault Ste. Marie shootings, cops cite intimate partner violence: CP

SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. -

The family of a man who killed four people -- including three children -- before turning a gun on himself has identified the shooter as Bobbie Hallaert, according to The Canadian Press.

Dirk Hallaert says his nephew carried out the shooting rampage that has devastated the northern Ontario city of Sault Ste. Marie this week and the family is struggling to understand what happened.

He says the three children killed were Bobbie Hallaert's kids.

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Police have called what happened a case of intimate partner violence and have not released the identities of those involved.

They have said the shooter first broke into a home on Monday night and killed a 41-year-old woman before heading to a second home and killing three children -- aged six, seven and 12 -- and shooting another woman, aged 45, who survived.

The 44-year-old shooter was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot.

Chief Hugh Stevenson has said police got a domestic violence call from one of the two homes involved in the gunman's rampage a day before the shootings took place.

Stevenson has not released further details but has said the shooter was involved in intimate partner investigations in the past.

Officers found two guns -- a long gun and a handgun -- at the home where the three children were found dead, police said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 26, 2023.