Neighbours in Mill Woods say a widowed mother and her two young daughters lived at the southeast Edmonton home involved in Monday’s fatal stabbing.
On Monday evening, police were called to the home at 25 Avenue NW and 43 Street NW for a report of a stabbing. When they arrived, they found a girl under 10 with life-threatening injuries. Despite efforts from emergency crews, police said the girl succumbed to her injuries on scene.
A small memorial had been started by neighbours at the home on Tuesday morning.
Neighbours said that the street is quite tight-knit and many people knew the family, who they said had lived in the home for around a decade.
“We were quite close,” said neighbour Ravi Sharma. “For the past two or three years, we were having block parties… we felt quite close to each other.”
Several neighbours confirmed to Global News that the family had also gone through another tragedy last summer when the father of the girls had died, leaving them as a family of three.
On Monday night, police had taken a male suspect into custody.
The two girls were well known by their neighbours and had participated in the Stollery lemonade stand fundraisers.
“Every year we used to have singing and dancing and parties together,” Sharma said.
“We are all disturbed. We are very disturbed.”
Edmonton Police Service homicide detectives are investigating.
–With files from Breanna Karstens-Smith, Global News