Edmonton mass murder autopsies being performed

Autopsies are being performed today on seven of the eight people killed in the worst mass killing in Edmonton's recent history, as well as the man believed to be responsible.

Six adults, between the ages of 25 and 50, and two children under age 10 were found in two separate Edmonton homes Monday night and early Tuesday morning.

The shooter, identified by sources as 53-year-old Phu Lam, was found dead in a Fort Saskatchewan restaurant on Tuesday morning. It appears he died by suicide.

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One of the victims 37-year-old Cyndi Duong was named by police after her autopsy was completed. Duong was found dead in a south Edmonton home following a weapon complaint Monday evening.

Police believe Duong was not the intended target of the shooting, saying that the shooter killed seven people in the north Edmonton home before moving to Duongs house.

Police Chief Rod Knechtsaidthe killings were"an extreme case of domestic violence."

The results of the autopsies will not be released on Thursday, a police spokesman said. Police have not yet said what relationship Lam had with the victims.

Few details have emergedabout Lam. He is listed as the co-owner of the north Edmonton home where the seven bodies were found. He recently filed for bankruptcy. CBC News has also learned that he was suffering from depression and had been on medication.

'Happy, outgoing'

The Vietnamese Alliance Church remembered Duong in their traditional New Years Eve prayer service on Wednesday.

The mother of three was married there and remained active in the church her family helped found in the 1980s.

Relative and friend Jade Nguyen attended the service to pay tribute toDuongand pray for surviving family members.

She wanted people to remember Duong as a loving mother and wife.

She is very optimistic, happy, outgoing and very generous, she said while blinking back tears. Very, very generous."

Outside the north Edmonton home where the seven victims where found, amakeshift memorial with teddy bears, candles and flowers continued to grow on Thursday.

Anne Nguyen said a Buddhist prayer outside the home, lighting ninesticks of incense for the shooter and the eight victims.

So their spirits will be at peace with each other. No more fighting, no more violence," she said.

I just hope and pray that [the shooter] will be in peace with the rest of his family.

Nguyen didn't know the victims but said the deaths are having a big impact on the city's Vietnamese community.