Young Ontario couple killed by landlord over tenancy dispute, police say

A Canadian couple was killed at their home in Ontario during a dispute with their landlord Saturday afternoon, authorities said. The shooting suspect was also killed.

Hamilton Police are investigating the double homicide in the city’s Stoney Creek neighborhood.

Officers arrived then at the residence around 5:40 p.m. where the couple, identified as 27-year-old Carissa MacDonald and 28-year-old Aaron Stone were tenants, the police department said in a news release. They found both the woman and man already dead from gunshot wounds.

The suspect, a 57-year-old man who was their landlord, proceeded to barricade himself inside the home with firearms that were registered to him, police said. Authorities attempted to negotiate with the suspect for several hours, said Monica Hudon, a spokesperson for the Special Investigations Unit for the province of Ontario. The unit has opened an investigation into the suspect’s death.

Hamilton Police say the landlord fired multiple times at a police vehicle as negotiations happened over the phone. At around 10 p.m., the suspect exchanged gunfire with a responding officer and was killed at the scene, according to the SIU.

The couple — an educational assistant and an electrician — were engaged, CBC News reported. Hamilton Police confirmed their identities on Tuesday after receiving permission from the couple’s families.

Police determined both tenants were “fleeing the residence” when they were shot and killed, calling the couple “truly innocent victims,” according to CBC News. Ward 10 councillor Jeff Beattie said the incident was “pretty horrifying,” and unusual for that neighborhood, in comments to the outlet on Sunday.

“This is a really quiet part of town, not a lot happens here and for three lives to be tragically lost, it’s unbelievable,” he told CBC News.

Details about the dispute between the tenants and their landlord are still unclear. Bereziuk said it did not involve “a missed rental payment,” adding, “The early indication on that is it sounds like there was some type of dispute regarding the state of the home,” according to CBC News. He declined to share additional information as the shooting is still under investigation.