The Dene high school campus of the La Loche Community School is seen in an undated photo. Four people were killed and two critically injured in a school shooting in a remote part of Saskatchewan on January 22, 2016 and a suspect is in custody, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. [Photo/Agencies]
VANCOUVER -- Authorities of Canada on Saturday confirmed that the 17-year-old suspect in Friday's school shootings in west Canada was charged with crimes, including four counts of first-degree murder.
The suspect was also charged with seven more counts of attempted murder and one count of unauthorized possession of a firearm, said Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Supt. Grant St. Germaine at a news conference held in La Loche, a remote town with a population of about 3,000, in Saskatchewan.
Four people were killed and seven others were injured in Friday's shooting happening around 1 p.m. local time Friday in La Loche, which is about 600 kilometers north of Saskatoon, the major city of Saskatchewan.
The victims have been identified by police as two teachers and two of the shooting suspect's brothers Dayne and Drayden Fontaine, aged 17 and 13, respectively.
Minutes after the shooting in the school, police rushed to the scene and the gunman quickly "surrendered" and a firearm was seized. The suspect can't be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. The motive of the shootings was still unknown, the police added.
