Three people are dead and Ontario’s police watchdog has been deployed following what Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) called a “barricaded person incident” in the Town of Huntsville.
In a media release, the OPP said officers were called to reports of a shooting and a person barricaded in a home on Highview Drive around 9 p.m. on Friday.
Police closed roads in the area for safety, and said that eventually “three individuals, including the armed individual, were located deceased.”
“As a result of the officers’ interaction with the barricaded person, the OPP has notified the province’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) which has invoked its mandate,” police said.
In its own media release, the SIU said it was probing the circumstances around the death of a 52-year-old man.
The SIU said the man had called police Friday night and told them he had weapons and had harmed two family members inside the home.
It said police deployed an Emergency Response Team and crisis negotiators, and were able to talk to the man by phone.
“Shortly after communication stopped, a drone was sent into the home to conduct a search of the residence,” the SIU said.
“The bodies of two deceased women were located, as was the body of a deceased man.”
A post-mortem is scheduled for Monday.
Anyone with information, including photos or videos, that could help the SIU investigation is asked to contact the lead investigator at 1-800-787-8529 through its website.
Anyone with information that could assist the parallel police investigation is asked to call Huntsville OPP at 1-888-310-1122, or anonymously through Crime Stoppers.