A crazed gunman killed six people - two of whom were children - then committed suicide in a Canadian town, police believe.

The man, thought to be 53-year-old Phu Lam, was found dead after an alleged rampage in which he attacked his victims in two different parts of Edmonton, Canada, before fleeing and taking his own life.

Police said that one of the victims was a young boy, and another was a young girl. They also found bodies belonging to four women and two men who were murdered.

One of the victims was named late Sunday as 37-year-old Cyndi Duong, who was killed at a separate home to the other seven.

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Chilling: Police remove one of the eight victims from a home in Edmonton, Alberta, this morning

Eight victims: Police in Edmonton, Alberta, investigate a home where seven bodies, two of them children, were found this morning after reports of a suicidal man

Inside: Detectives scour the inside of a building in nearby Fort Saskatchewan, where officers found the alleged killer dead Tuesday morning

Officers also say they found a body matching descriptions they received of a suicidal man in a commuter town not from from Edmonton.

The Toronto Sun reported that Lam is thought to be the man in question, and was known to police before.

Edmonton police chief Rob Knecht called the attacks a 'senseless mass murder', which he said was a result of domestic violence.

He later described the killings, carried out with a 9mm handgun which was stolen eight years ago, as 'planned and deliberate' and said they were the city's worst mass killings since 1956.

He added the man was well-known to police and had a criminal record dating back to September 1987.

Police were called to an address in the south of the town, three hours north of Calgary in the Alberta province, following a weapons complaint.

There they found the body of a woman, thought to be in her 30s, who had been shot dead after somebody broke into the house Monday evening, according to state broadcaster CBC.

Murder after murder: The above map shows the sites where dead bodies were found by police in and around Edmonton

Murdered: The victim above is one of seven found in the same home, to which police were called in the evening before the killings happened

They then received calls about a suicidal man from a home elsewhere in the city - but by the time they arrived he had left.

The officers checked the home and knocked on the door, but got no response. Police rejected any response they did not do enough.

When officers returned after midnight, they found the next seven victims: three women, two men and the two children. All had been shot dead.

Duong shared the home where she was found dead with David Luu, 41, according to property records viewed by the Edmonton Journal.

Further records reportedly showed the home where seven more bodies were found is owned by Phu Lam and a 35-year-old woman named as Thuy-Tien Truong.

According to the Journal, Truong was sued by the Royal Bank in 2013 and Lam filed a bankruptcy proposal in the same year.

Neighbours told the Journal a couple with two children - an eight-year-old named locally as Elvis and a toddler - lived in the house alongside an elderly woman.

Police tracked the suicidal man to a Chinese and Vietnamese restaurant in Fort Saskatchewan, a town outside Edmonton, to which Lam has been linked.

Officers located a black Mercedes SUV Lam is thought to have been driving.

'Senseless mass murder': Edmonton police chief Rod Knecht spoke at a conference about the spree of murders

Explanation: Chief Knecht said the killings seem to be the result of domestic violence

Tragedy: The police chief said it was the city's worst mass killing since another in 1956

Police found the vehicle at around 2.30am, but waited until morning to raid the restaurant, where the man was found.

Witnesses then described officer blowing down the door, and sending police dogs and robot

When they entered around 8.45am today, the man was dead - apparently after killing himself.

Police say there is no further danger to the public.

Chief Knecht said: 'This series of events are not believed to be random acts. These events do not appear to be gang-related, but rather tragic incidents of domestic violence.'

'Our homicide investigators have established associations and linkages between these homicides,' he said.

Police would not elaborate on the connection between the deaths.