42-year-old Dahia Khellaf and her two young sons, aged two and four, were found dead early Wednesday morning in Montreal’s Pointe-aux-Trembles neighbourhood.
Montreal police spokesperson Manuel Couture said police officers arrived at the home around 8 a.m. on Place des Pointeliers near St-Jean-Baptiste Boulevard to inform the family the father, Nabil Yssaad, had died.
The father died by suicide on Tuesday in Joliette, according to police. Pascale Lamy, a spokesperson for the Centre hospitalier De Lanaudière, said that the man — who is neither an employee or a known patient — jumped from the sixth floor of the hospital.
Police officers were reportedly worried when there was no answer at the family home so they entered and found the bodies.
“They thought it was not normal that nobody was home and nobody was answering,” said Couture.
The three deaths were confirmed at the scene, and they are being treated as suspicious, according to police.
Investigators and forensic analysis technicians are at the site, where a crime scene has been established. Investigators are considering the possibility that this is a murder-suicide.
“They still have a lot of work to do,” said Couture.
Police could not provide more information about the circumstances of their deaths.
Yann Kedja, a 19-year-old neighbour, said he believes the family had been living at the address for about two years. He never met the father but would see the children playing outside in the summer.
“I saw the kids outside having fun and playing, and the mother was there having fun with them,” he said, calling the deaths a “horrible tragedy.”
Neighbours said they’ve seen police cars around the home several times but police wouldn’t confirm how often they were called to the address.
According to court documents, Yssaad had a restraining order against him. He was charged with assault in August last year.
Last week, Yssaad signed a peace bond and was placed on a year-long probation. He was ordered not to carry firearms or explosives.
An autopsy will be performed on the three bodies on Wednesday night to help further the investigation.
— With files from Global News’ Gloria Heniquez, Brittany Henriques and the Canadian Press