Student-party slasher in Canada kills 5

Police remove a body from a house where five people were fatally stabbed Tuesday at a party in northwest Calgary, Alberta.
Police remove a body from a house where five people were fatally stabbed Tuesday at a party in northwest Calgary, Alberta.

CALGARY, Alberta - A University of Calgary student was charged in the fatal stabbing of five people at a house party Tuesday that the police chief called the worst mass slaying in the western Canadian city’s history.

Matthew Douglas de Grood, the son of a 33-year veteran of the Calgary police force, picked up a large knife shortly after arriving at the party and stabbed the victims one by one, Police Chief Rick Hanson said.

De Grood, 22, was charged with five counts of murder late Tuesday.

“We have never seen five people killed at one scene,” Hanson said. “The scene was horrific.”

Hanson said the motive for the Calgary attack was unknown. He said the suspect’s father and mother were devastated.

“They are now feeling so much sorrow,” he said. “Those young people are dead, and they are absolutely devastated.”

Hanson said the suspect left his job at a grocery store and went to the party, to which he was invited. Hanson said he had taken along a weapon to the party but instead found and used a knife at the house.

He said about 20 people were at the party when the stabbings occurred and all appeared to be taken by surprise.

Hanson said the victims’ ages ranged from 22-27 and called them all “good kids.”

Police said three men were found dead at the home. Another man and a woman died at a local hospital.

Police said de Grood was arrested with the help of the police dog unit about 40 minutes after the stabbings and that he was taken to the hospital for treatment of dog bites.

Multiple witnesses were being interviewed by detectives, police said.

The blue-sided house where the stabbings occurred is on a quiet, tree-lined residential street. It was surrounded after the stabbings with yellow police tape as medical examiner staff members removed three bodies on stretchers.

Neighbors said the house was being rented by University of Calgary students and that the party was related to the student union’s annual Bermuda Shorts Day, which was held Monday.

Bermuda Shorts Day, also known as BSD, is an annual outdoor party on campus with live music and beer gardens to celebrate the final day of classes.

The school’s student newspaper, The Gauntlet, wrote about the tradition two weeks ago in a story titled “BSD: It’ll be a bloodbath.”

On Twitter, many students wrote about how they started drinking early in the morning Monday and continued after the campus event at parties elsewhere.

On Tuesday, about 500 students and faculty members attended a late afternoon vigil at the University of Calgary.

With a candle projected on a giant screen, university President Elizabeth Cannon called for a moment of silence.

“The world lost five bright, promising, beautiful young people,” she said. “We are still coming to grips with this tragedy and what transpired. We don’t know all the details and we don’t know the full impact on our University of Calgary community.”

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi called it tragic and urged people to support one another.

“Our community has been dealt a grievous blow. We’ve lost five young people, five good young people who did nothing wrong. Who like all of us had dreams and hopes and were building their lives,” Nenshi said.

In another attack in Canada, a student was stabbed in a school just outside Toronto on Tuesday, and two were arrested. Police said the 17-year old victim’s injuries were not life-threatening.

Front Section, Pages 6 on 04/16/2014

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