Police charge a 48-year-old man for murders of two police officers and two civilians

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Canadian police have charged a man for the deaths of two police officers and two civilians, the latest incident in an eruption of gun violence that has prompted calls for weapons bans.

Police in the eastern city of Fredericton, New Brunswick, said on Saturday that Matthew Vincent Raymond, 48, was arrested and charged with four counts of first-degree murder.

Horizon Health, which delivers care for New Brunswick’s Department of Health, said that Raymond was the only person being treated for injuries related to the shooting. He is due to appear in court on 27 August.

Canada: police name officers killed in Fredericton shooting Read more

The victims have been identified as PC Lawrence Robert Costello, 45, PC Sara Mae Helen Burns, 43, Donnie Robichaud, 42, and Bobbie-Lee Wright, 32. Robichaud and Wright appeared to have been in a relationship.

No motive has been disclosed so far.

Fredericton’s deputy police chief, Martin Gaudet, said the two officers were responding to calls of shots fired at an apartment complex. He said they arrived at the scene and saw two deceased civilians before they were shot and killed themselves.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest PCs Lawrence Robert Costello, 45, and Sara Mae Helen Burns, 43, were responding to reports of shots fired at an apartment complex when they were shot. Photograph: HO/Fredericton Police/AFP/Getty Images

Residents said they were stunned as the last homicide in the city of about 60,000 people was in 2014.

The shooting comes as Canada wrestles with a string of violence, including an instance in Toronto last month where a man with a handgun opened fire in a crowded part of the city, killing two people and wounding 13 before dying in the confrontation.

Toronto, Canada’s largest city, has had 241 shooting incidents so far this year, resulting in 30 deaths, a 30% increase in fatalities over the same period last year.

Bill Blair, the federal minister tasked with tackling gun violence, said officials are considering giving provinces the power to designate gun-free cities.

Toronto shooting: gunman had history of psychosis and depression, family says Read more

“It’s possible that we could work with the provinces and territories and allow them the authority to designate certain municipalities as places where guns could not be purchased or possessed,” said Blair.

In April, a man who linked himself to a misogynistic online community used a van to run down pedestrians in a busy part of Toronto, killing 10 people and injuring 14.

Authorities are also still pursuing leads in an ongoing investigation of a serial killer who has been charged with killing eight men in the city in recent years.

In 2014, a shooting in Moncton, New Brunswick, left three Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers dead and two wounded.