Police say a young Ontario couple was shot and killed by a landlord over an argument

A young Canadian couple said to be soon to be married was shot dead by their owner before the suspect barricaded himself in the home and died in a shootout with police, authorities said.

Officers were initially called to a home in the Stony Creek area of ​​Hamilton, Ontario, about 42 miles from Toronto, around 5:40 p.m. Saturday due to reports of gunfire, the Hamilton Police Service said in a statement. New release.

Upon arrival, the police said, they found a 27-year-old woman and a 28-year-old man who had been fatally shot.

Police said officers determined the two had been living in the home as tenants and that they had been shot in a “landlord-tenant dispute”.

“An early indication of this is that there appears to have been some sort of disagreement regarding the condition of the house,” Det. Sgt. Steve Prizyuk told reporters, according to L.L.C Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

The radio reported that the couple, an educational assistant and an electrician, were engaged. Their identities have not been publicly disclosed. Prizyuk said the couple were “really innocent victims”.

Hamilton police said the owner, a 57-year-old man, barricaded himself inside the home with firearms that were registered to him.

The Emergency Response Unit contained the area while negotiators tried to resolve the situation in what appeared to be an hours-long standoff.

At one point during the negotiations, authorities said, the suspect fired at a police armored vehicle before later firing additional rounds, which “led to an interaction with the police.”

The Ontario Special Investigations Unit, which is investigating the conduct of law enforcement officials involved in serious incidents, said the suspect was fatally shot during a shootout with police. Unity said in a New release.

The unit said the 57-year-old man, whose identity has not been released, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police said the families of the victims had been notified and they were “very upset”.

“As you can imagine, these are not people to whom this should happen,” said Prizyuk. “They are not involved in any level of criminality or lifestyle that could lead to an accident like this.”