The RCMP say a 60-year-old man is in custody after four targeted shootings in Penticton, B.C., on Monday left two men and two women dead in what a senior police officer described as a "very dark day" for the city.Darren Sweet/The Canadian Press
The man accused of killing four people on Monday in Penticton, B.C., is a former city employee described by the mayor as a “gentleman” who was involved in community matters.
John Brittain, of Penticton, a city of about 33,000 in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley, faces three counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder in relation to a string of shootings that resulted in parts of the city being cordoned off and dozens of officers sent into city streets.
Mr. Brittain turned himself in to police on Monday. The RCMP initially said the person they took into custody for the shootings was 60, but on Tuesday, when charges were announced, clarified that he was 68. Mr. Brittain made a brief court appearance in Penticton.
Mayor John Vassilaki confirmed Mr. Brittain worked in the city’s engineering department when Mr. Vassilaki was a city councillor. Mr. Vassilaki was elected as mayor last year.
“He was a gentleman. He did his job well,” Mr. Vassilaki told a news conference. “He was very in favour of what our community was doing, was always involved in community matters, him and his wife.”
Mr. Vassilaki said Mr. Brittain retired due to illness but said he didn’t know details of Mr. Brittain’s condition.
More recently, Mr. Brittain worked as a civil engineer for Ecora, a B.C. engineering firm with offices in eight cities in the province. Ecora president and chief executive officer Kelly Sherman said Mr. Brittain had worked in the firm’s Penticton offices for about two years.
“We’re shocked and saddened by the incident and our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the deceased,” Mr. Sherman said. He declined further comment, citing the continuing police investigation.
Police have not released names of the victims, but relatives have identified one of them as Rudi Winter, and said the rampage may have been related to a dispute between neighbours.
Police say the victims were in their 60s and 70s.
The four fatalities occurred at three different locations – including two houses on Cornwall Drive – over a five-kilometre radius. About an hour went by between the first call to police and the time when Mr. Brittain drove to the police station and turned himself in.
Witnesses reported a man carrying a rifle, but the type and number of weapons used in the incident are part of the investigation, RCMP Superintendent Ted De Jager said at the press conference.
“Any firearm, or multiple firearms for that matter, is something that we’re still looking into,” Supt. De Jager said. Mr. Brittain was unarmed when he appeared at the police station and was immediately taken into custody, Supt. De Jager said.
Supt. De Jager would not discuss a motive or the relationship between Mr. Brittain and the victims, other than to say they were all known to each other.
On Monday, Jeff Schwarz, the nephew of Mr. Winter, told The Globe and Mail that the shootings may have had something to do with a dispute between neighbours.
In an e-mail, Mr. Brittain’s lawyer, Paul McMurray, said, “speculation as to an alleged motive for these shootings is unfounded” and that media and others should wait for evidence to be presented in court before rushing to conclusions.
Mr. Brittain’s next scheduled court appearance is May 8 in Penticton.
Wendy Stueck