Residents of the greater Ottawa area and members of the local Sri Lankan community gathered to honor the memory of the six victims of this week’s mass shooting in the Barrhaven neighborhood in the west of the federal capital. Dozens of flowers and toys were left at the scene.
The ceremony took place at Palmadeo Park near the residence where two adults and four children were murdered Wednesday.
The Mayor of Ottawa, Mark Sutcliffe, the Chief of the Police Service, Eric Stubbs, and the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka, Harsha Kumara Navaratne, participated in the ceremony which was intended to be sober.
Participants left flowers, toys and candles under a gazebo. Six balloons, each marked with the name of one of the victims, were released into the air.
Darshani Ekanyake, 35, was killed on Wednesday evening along with her seven-year-old son, Inuka Wickramasinghe, and three daughters: Ashwini, four; Rinyana, two years old; and Kelly, two and a half months old, who was born in Canada. Also killed was Amarakoonmubiayansela Ge Gemini Amarakoon, 40, who police described as a family friend.
The father, named in court documents as Dhanushka Wickramasinghe, suffered serious but non-life threatening injuries.
Febrio De-Zoysa, a foreign exchange student who resided with the family, was charged with six counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.
Naradha Kodithuwakku, director of the Buddhist Congress of Canada, who spoke on behalf of the community, thanked first responders, elected officials and other organizations who supported the family.
The Hilda Jayewardenaramaya Buddhist Monastery received permission from the surviving father to hold a funeral once the victims’ autopsies were completed.
One of the organizers of the vigil, Chandra Hapuarachchi of the Buddhist Congress of Canada, expressed appreciation for the support coming from people outside the Sri Lankan community.
“It didn’t just affect Sri Lankans,” said Ms.me Hapuarachchi in an interview.