Man faces murder charges in slayings of two men, two women in Penticton, B.C.

PENTICTON, B.C. — A 68-year-old man has been charged with four counts of murder after shootings in two separate areas of Penticton, B.C., on Monday.

Dan McLaughlin of the B.C. prosecution service says three counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder have been laid against John Brittain.

Mayor John Vassilaki says Brittain was an employee of the city’s engineering department for several years before he retired.

RCMP Supt. Ted De Jager said the two men and two women who were killed in the shootings were in their 60s and 70s, but police are not releasing any further information about the victims.

De Jager says police received a call about a possible shooting at about 10:30 a.m. on Monday.

He says police are trying to determine a motive as part of their investigation, but the shootings were targeted as the accused and the victims knew each other.

De Jager wouldn’t elaborate on the relationship between them.

Police say after the first shooting on Heales Avenue, the suspect drove about five kilometres to a second location on Cornwall Drive where the other three people were attacked.

De Jager says a man was killed on Heales and the other three victims were found at neighbouring homes on Cornwall. A man and a woman were found in one home on Cornwall and a man in the other.

De Jager said an unarmed suspect walked into the RCMP detachment about an hour after the shootings and surrendered to police.

The Canadian Press

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version based on information released by the RCMP said John Brittain is 60 years old.