Police in Kingston, Ont., say a 47-year-old man has been charged with second-degree murder and attempted murder in connection with killings in a homeless encampment on Thursday.
They say the accused, who is from Kingston, remains in custody after he appeared in court on Friday afternoon.
Police also identified the victims as 38-year-old Taylor Wilkinson and 41-year-old John Hood, both of Kingston.
They were killed after a violent attack in an encampment next to a consumption and treatment services (CTS) site and the Integrated Care Hub (ICH).
A third person was also injured in the attack and was said to be in life-threatening condition on Thursday. Police would not provide any further details about the third victim.
Police were called to the Montreal Street encampment shortly before 11 a.m. after an assault was reported.
When the officers reached the scene, police say they found the three victims, as well as a man who was considered a suspect.
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The suspect then barricaded himself in a wooded area across the street from the ICH as police negotiated his surrender.
“Our goal all through was to end it peacefully and without incident,” Const. Anthony Colangeli said. “And that’s what we did. We knew that it may take some time to do that, but we were prepared to put the time in to make sure there was a peaceful ending to this.”
Police have not provided much information about the victims other than to say that two had died and a third was in hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Their injuries were caused by an “edged weapon and blunt instrument.”
Shortly before the suspect was taken into custody, Kingston Mayor Bryan Paterson issued a statement on social media saying he was “horrified by the situation that was unfolding” and describing the incident as “an utterly senseless act of violence.”
He also called for the closure of the CTS and for the encampment to be cleared as well.
“We as a city have been talking about the dangers of this encampment in and around the safe injection site for three years,” the mayor wrote in his statement. “There are community partners and advocates who have fought the city on every attempt we have made to clear this encampment and ensure public safety for those living there.
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“We need to clear the encampment, close this safe injection site and the ICH until we can find a better way to support our most vulnerable residents and work with the province to provide treatment and housing solutions.”
John Done, one of the lawyers who represented those in the encampments during court battles with the city over closure, says that the Paterson’s “comments are premature and misguided.”
“How this tragedy developed is the subject of a current police investigation. At this point, there is no evidence of any role the safe injection site, the Integrated Care Hub, and the homeless encampment, had in this tragedy,” he noted. “The location of these events could be important, but they could be proxies for other problems, namely opioid addictions, mental illness, and homelessness.
“Rushing to judgment was wrong. A better approach would have been to await a full investigation.”
The ICH released a statement on Thursday that said it was “deeply saddened” over the incident and that it would be closed for a couple of days.
“This is an active police investigation, and to support their ongoing investigation we have been asked to temporarily close the services of the Integrated Care Hub (ICH) at 661 Montreal Street,” the statement read.
“This closure will be effective immediately and is expected to last a couple of days.”
*With files from Global News’ Paul Soucy
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