3 dead, 3 hurt in Canada, U.S. shootings

Police respond to separate shootings in Canada and the United States

MONTREAL, Canada (AFP) — A gunman killed two people and wounded two others near Vancouver, Canada early Monday before being shot dead by police, as a woman who fired her gun into the air inside a Dallas airport terminal in Texas, United States (US) was wounded by cops.

“I can confirm that four people were shot by what is believed to be a lone gunman,” Langley police chief Ghalib Bhayani told a news conference. Two of the victims died, while a third — a woman — remained in critical condition, and a fourth person was shot in the leg.

The assailant may have targeted homeless people, but this was not immediately confirmed by authorities in Langley, a town of 130,000 people about an hour southeast of Vancouver.

“Right now we’re determining the exact nature of who these people are and we aren’t able to confirm that they are in fact homeless,” homicide investigator David Lee said of the victims.

Bhayani said authorities were still working to identify the victims and suspect, and to establish whether there was any connection between them.

Several Langley residents tweeted images of emergency alerts they received from police at about 6:15 a.m. local time confirming “multiple shooting scenes” in the city’s downtown area.

A subsequent alert informed residents that the suspect was no longer a threat, but urged them to keep away from the area.

Meanwhile, the shot 37-year-old woman fired into the ceiling with a handgun, Police Chief Eddie Garcia said.

Garcia told reporters the woman was dropped off at the airport, went into a restroom, emerged wearing different clothing and opened fire.

A police officer in the area shot the woman in the “lower extremities” and she was arrested and taken to hospital, the police chief said.

The assailant may have targeted homeless people.

No one else was injured. The shooting sparked panicked scenes at the airport as passengers fled for safety.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a “ground stop,” temporarily halting flights at the airport.