Police in Kingston, Ont., say a 47-year-old man has been charged with second-degree homicide and tried homicide in reference to killings in a homeless encampment on Thursday.
They are saying the accused, who’s from Kingston, stays in custody after he appeared in courtroom on Friday afternoon.
Police additionally recognized the victims as 38-year-old Taylor Wilkinson and 41-year-old John Hood, each of Kingston.
They have been killed after a violent assault in an encampment subsequent to a consumption and remedy providers (CTS) website and the Built-in Care Hub (ICH).
A 3rd individual was additionally injured within the assault and was mentioned to be in life-threatening situation on Thursday. Police wouldn’t present any additional particulars concerning the third sufferer.
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Police have been referred to as to the Montreal Road encampment shortly earlier than 11 a.m. after an assault was reported.
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When the officers reached the scene, police say they discovered the three victims, in addition to a person who was thought of a suspect.
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The suspect then barricaded himself in a wooded space throughout the road from the ICH as police negotiated his give up.
“Our goal all through was to end it peacefully and without incident,” Const. Anthony Colangeli mentioned. “And that’s what we did. We knew that it may take some time to do that, but we were prepared to put the time in to make sure there was a peaceful ending to this.”
Police haven’t offered a lot details about the victims apart from to say that two had died and a 3rd was in hospital with life-threatening accidents.
Their accidents have been brought on by an “edged weapon and blunt instrument.”
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Shortly earlier than the suspect was taken into custody, Kingston Mayor Bryan Paterson issued an announcement on social media saying he was “horrified by the situation that was unfolding” and describing the incident as “an utterly senseless act of violence.”
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He additionally referred to as for the closure of the CTS and for the encampment to be cleared as effectively.
“We as a city have been talking about the dangers of this encampment in and around the safe injection site for three years,” the mayor wrote in his assertion. “There are group companions and advocates who’ve fought the town on each try now we have made to clear this encampment and guarantee public security for these dwelling there.
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“We need to clear the encampment, close this safe injection site and the ICH until we can find a better way to support our most vulnerable residents and work with the province to provide treatment and housing solutions.”
John Achieved, one of many attorneys who represented these within the encampments throughout courtroom battles with the town over closure, says that the Paterson’s “comments are premature and misguided.”
“How this tragedy developed is the subject of a current police investigation. At this point, there is no evidence of any role the safe injection site, the Integrated Care Hub, and the homeless encampment, had in this tragedy,” he famous. “The location of these events could be important, but they could be proxies for other problems, namely opioid addictions, mental illness, and homelessness.
“Rushing to judgment was wrong. A better approach would have been to await a full investigation.”
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The ICH launched an announcement on Thursday that mentioned it was “deeply saddened” over the incident and that it could be closed for a few days.
“This is an active police investigation, and to support their ongoing investigation we have been asked to temporarily close the services of the Integrated Care Hub (ICH) at 661 Montreal Street,” the assertion learn.
“This closure will be effective immediately and is expected to last a couple of days.”
*With information from Ontario Chronicle’ Paul Soucy
© 2024 Ontario Chronicle, a division of Corus Leisure Inc.
