A gunman who killed four family members in their Oshawa home and wounded a fifth before taking his own life has been identified as the brother of the woman who survived the bloodbath. Oshawa is a city in Ontario, Canada.
Durham Regional Police released a statement Friday evening revealing that a pickup truck towed from the scene on Parklane Ave., near Harmony Rd. N. and King St. E., was registered to Mitchell Lapa — a Winnipeg man who a Sun source identified as the brother of surviving victim Loretta Traynor.
“Lapa was the sole shooter in this incident and he died as a result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” police said, adding the 48-year-old “relative of the family” was “an uninvited person to the home.”
While police did not immediately identify the four victims who were killed, those who know the family believe they include Traynor’s husband and three of the couple’s children.
Durham Regional Police remove a body from a house on Parklane Ave. in Oshawa where five people were found shot to death on Friday, Sept. 4, 2020.
Neighbours on the quiet street awoke to the sound of gunfire coming from 837 Parklane Ave. around 1:20 a.m. Friday. Carol Gibson, who lives a few doors down from the home, told the Sun she heard several gunshots. “The first shot woke me up, and then I heard about four or five more after that,” she said. “Then a woman screamed and there were two shots after that.”
Const. George Tudos said responding officers arrived to a ‘chaotic scene’ of screaming and gunfire coming from the home. “It wasn’t until our tactical support team attended, they were able to safely enter the residence, and that’s when they made that grisly discovery of five deceased parties,” he said.
Inside, emergency crews found the bodies of one female and four males — two of whom were under the age of 18 — along with a woman suffering undetermined injuries. Tudor said all of the deceased are family members.
Neighbours told the Sun the home is owned by Christopher and Loretta Traynor — the latter being the woman found injured inside the home.
Neighbours told the Sun the home is owned by Christopher and Loretta Traynor — the latter being the woman found injured inside the home.
Christopher Traynor is a teacher at Monsignor Paul Dwyer Catholic Secondary School in Oshawa, they say. And Loretta Traynor is a teacher at St.Theresa Catholic School in Whitby.
A spokesman for the Durham District Catholic School Board would not comment while awaiting police to identify the victims but told the Sun, “Our thoughts and prayers go out to all who are impacted by this tragedy.”
Around 3:40 p.m., police cleared the street of both media and onlookers after two ‘suspicious devices’ were found as coroners were moving the alleged shooter’s body.
Michelle, who lives across the street and was also awakened by the gunfire, described seeing a ‘suspicious-looking’ white Ford quad-cab pickup truck with Manitoba licence plates haphazardly parked and facing the wrong way in front of the home.
“They were a great family,” she said of the Traynors, her voice breaking off into sobs. “Very good, very good.”
Mourners outside a home on Parklane Ave. in Oshawa where four people were murdered and a fifth injured in a shooting on Friday, September 4, 2020. PHOTO BY JACK BOLAND /Toronto Sun
Clifford Chow, who has lived on Parklane Ave. for over 50 years, said you couldn’t ask for better neigbours. “They were kind, generous, well educated,” he said. “This is a quiet neighbourhood, and I’ve lived here since this was a dirt road.”
The family, neighbours say, had lived in the home for over 20 years.
Throughout the day, friends and family members came by the scene to drop off flowers and express their sorrow over the tragedy.
-Torontosun