At Least 4 Dead In Canadian School Shooting

Canadian police say four people have died and two others are in critical condition after a school shooting incident in a remote village in northern Saskatchewan. The prime minister and other officials earlier said five people were killed. One suspect is in custody.

As the incident unfolded, La Loche Community School, which serves students in seventh to 12th grade, posted on Facebook to say the school — and a nearby elementary school — were on lockdown and the public should stay away.

Reuters reports:

"Mass shootings are relatively rare in Canada, which has stricter gun laws than the United States. In the country's worst school shooting, 14 college students were killed at Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique in 1989. "Extra doctors and nurses have been sent to treat patients in Keewatin Yatthe Regional Health Authority's 16-bed hospital, said spokesman Dale West."

The Star Phoenix newspaper of Saskatoon quotes sources as saying the suspect is a boy and that the chain of events began with a shooting at a residence.

The acting mayor of La Loche, Kevin Janvier, says some of the fatalities are believed to be members of the suspect's family, as Craig McCulloch reports for our Newscast unit.

The mayor's daughter, a 23-year-old teacher at the school, also died in the shooting, he told the media.

La Loche is a town of 3,000 people, mostly members of the Dene First Nation, Craig reports. It's located about 375 miles northwest of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.