Shooting spree near Vancouver leaves 2 dead

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) on Monday confirmed "multiple reports of shots fired with several victims and several different scenes," in the Vancouver suburb of Langley in Western Canada. 

Though initial reports said the shooter had been arrested, a later statement said that "during their interaction with the suspect police fired their weapon, hitting the man. He was pronounced dead at the scene." 

Photos from the scene also show a black RCMP SUV with a dozen bullet holes riddling its front windshield. 

What do we know about the shooting?

"We are actively investigating a series of shootings that has left two dead, one in critical condition and another with serious injuries," Chief Superintendent Ghalib Bhayani of the regional Royal Canadian Mountain Police force said.

"At this time," according to Bhayani, "we don’t know the motive behind this deadly incident, nor if there was any relationship between the deceased suspect and the victims."

Langley residents were notified of the incident via telephone text early Monday morning and were told to "stay alert."

Authorities asked residents to avoid several areas of the Vancouver suburb, including a bus stop and a casino parking lot.

Yellow police tape surrounded a sandwich shop and a parking lot in at the scene of one of the shootings. A black tent was set up to conceal one of the crime scenes.

The suspect was described as a white male wearing overalls and a camouflaged t-shirt. 

Canada has stricter gun laws than the neighboring US and also has far fewer mass shootings. Canada's current laws were put in place in response to an incident in Montreal in 1989, in which 14 women were killed by a gunman, who then killed himself.

The deadliest mass shooting in Canada occurred last year, when a man dressed as a police officer shot several people in their homes and set fires across the province of Nova Scotia, killing 22 people.

js/wmr (AFP, AP, Reuters)