Homicide investigators have been sent to Surrey, B.C.’s Fraser Heights neighbourhood where three people were found dead inside a home on Monday.
Surrey RCMP officers found the bodies just after noon at the house on 112th Avenue near 156th Street while responding to a call for a wellbeing check.
Mounties believe the three adult victims are members of the same family.
“Our information right now is that they were husband and wife and an adult son,” Sgt. Timothy Pierotti of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) told Global News on Tuesday.
Police do not believe there any outstanding suspects, he added.
No one else was found on the property and police said Monday they don’t believe there is “any ongoing risk to public safety.”
Pierotti added Tuesday that RCMP are not aware of any previous negative interactions between police, the house and its residents.
The grim discovery at the home, which neighbours say operated as an after-school tutoring business, has shocked the community.
Throughout Monday afternoon, clients arrived for scheduled tutoring sessions — only learning details of what had happened inside from news media on scene.
Jessica Zheng, whose son took French lessons from one of the residents, said the home was well known in the area.
“Really shocked, I can’t believe this has happened,” she said. “They are a lovely family.”
Other neighbours told Global News the neighbourhood was generally quiet and family-oriented, but had seen growing crime in recent years.
“You’re told it’s good to have good neighbours and it’s good to know your neighbours, but the reality today is this, you really don’t know your neighbours,” neighbour Patricia Cecchetto said.
“We don’t know why those people are dead, and maybe it could have been us too, maybe opening the door to the wrong people. Who knows? Its a wake-up call to all of us.”
Neighbour Cordell Fauht, who was walking to get a coffee with his sister, described the deaths as “scary.”
“We like to think it’s a safe area, it’s kind of a little pocket outside of Surrey and its usually OK, but crime gets in everywhere.”
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team will be working the case with Surrey RCMP. Investigators canvassed the neighbourhood on Tuesday.
“Preliminary does suggest that this is an isolated amongst the three individuals that were located within residence, though we’re not ruling out any investigative theory at this time,” Pierotti said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact IHIT at 1-877-551-IHIT (4448) or by email at ihitinfo@rcmp-grc.gc.ca.