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Penticton News  

Alleged shooter in court

Chelsea Powrie

UPDATE: 2:30 p.m.

Mayor John Vassilaki described John Brittain, a former city engineer, as "a gentle person," and one who "wouldn't hurt a fly."

He said Brittain was a supporter in his recent mayoral campaign, and never showed any violent tendencies. 

Brittain remains in custody at the Okanagan Correctional Centre after a brief court appearance Tuesday morning. He is due back in court on May 8. 

Supt. Ted De Jager with Penticton RCMP told media that the two crime scenes on Heales Avenue and Cornwall Drive are expected to be released Tuesday afternoon.


UPDATE 11:40 a.m.

The Penticton RCMP say they will not be releasing the names of the victims in Monday’s quadruple homicide, "because there is no operational requirement to further" the investigation.

John Brittain, 68, a former City of Penticton engineer is charged with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder.

The indictment states that the first count involves the shooting of R.W., identified by family as Rudi Winter, who was killed while pruning a tree on Lakeview Street.

Court documents identify the remaining three victims as B.W., S.W. and D.K.

Land title records for the two homes involved in the shooting scene on Cornwall Drive indicate one of the homes is owned by Susan and Barry Wonch. The other home involved in the crime scene is owned by a woman named Darlene Knippelberg.

Supt. Ted De Jager said at a media conference Tuesday that a man and woman were killed at one of the Cornwall Drive homes, while a woman was killed at the other.

Both Cornwall Drive homes and the duplex on Lakeview Street remain behind police tape.

Police are staying tight-lipped about the possible motive of the shooting and the relationship between the shooter and victims.

Mayor John Vassilaki told reporters Brittain retired from the city back in 2016 due to illness, but could not offer specifics.


 

UPDATE: 10:10 a.m.

Charges have been approved against the suspected shooter that left four people dead in Penticton on Monday.

Prosecutors have confirmed John Brittain has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder.

John Brittain is a retired civil engineer with the City of Penticton. He's registered as a practising professional engineer with Engineers and Geoscientists B.C. with Ecora Engineering and Resource Group Ltd.

Tuesday morning, no one at Ecora was available to comment.


ORIGINAL: 9:45 a.m.

Rudi Winter, a Penticton senior, has been identified as one of the victims of the fatal shooting spree in Penticton Monday. 

His family identified him online, CTV News reports. The other three victims have not been identified. 

RCMP have only said that the shootings were targeted and they believe all of the victims knew each other. 

Castanet reporter Colin Dacre heard from a distraught woman at the scene of one of the shootings who said she was one victim's wife and said she thought it was the result of a neighbourly dispute.

The RCMP are still working on identifying a motive. 

A media briefing at the Penticton RCMP detachment will be live on Castanet at 11 a.m. Tuesday.

-with files from CTV News



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