4 killed in ‘targeted’ shootings in British Columbia

A 60-year-old man was arrested after allegedly killing four people in a “targeted” series of shootings Monday, police in British Columbia said.

The gunman, who authorities had not named as of Tuesday morning, killed two men and two women in three locations within about 3 miles of each other in the city of Penticton, said Ted De Jager, superintendent of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The first shooting was reported at 10:30 a.m., and the suspect had turned himself in by 11:30 a.m., he said.

The victims were not identified, pending notification of their families. But police said they believed the gunman knew all of the victims.

“While the investigation remains active and ongoing, we do believe this was a targeted incident,” De Jager said Monday.

The shooting was the deadliest on record in Penticton, a city of about 34,000 about a 4½-hour drive from Vancouver. Throughout the province, mass shootings are rare: It was only the fifth shooting in British Columbia that killed more than four people. The last such shooting was in 1996, according to Penticton Western News.

Gun owners in Canada must be licensed. Before a license is granted, officials check the buyer’s past for any violent crimes or behavior, crimes involving firearms or violent episodes related to mental illness in the preceding five years.

Handguns, semi-automatic and automatic weapons must be registered with the federal government, but lawmakers eliminated a national registry of rifles and shotguns in 2012.

Last year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau proposed expanding the background review to the licensee’s entire lifetime while resuming the record-keeping for some rifle and shotgun sales, prompting a fierce pushback from some gun owners.

The national long-gun registry, introduced in 1995 in...