Cops: University Student in Canada Stabs 5 to Death

It's Calgary's worst mass murder
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 15, 2014 7:13 PM CDT
Cops: University Student in Canada Stabs 5 to Death
University of Calgary staff member Saima Jamal cries during a memorial service for victims of the multiple fatal stabbing.   (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Larry MacDougal)

A 22-year-old graduate of the University of Calgary who was about to enter its law school is accused of stabbing five people to death at a party, reports the Calgary Herald. The suspect in the city's worst mass murder has been identified as Matthew de Grood, the son of a veteran Calgary police officer. Authorities say the assailant arrived as an invited guest to the party last night, grabbed a large knife from the house, and began attacking his victims individually. Killed were four men and a woman, all in their 20s. Two of the victims were members of a local funk-rock group called Zackariah and the Prophets. De Grood was apprehended a few blocks from the house.

Authorities don't know a motive, reports the CBC. “He showed up. One of the people who lived in the residence welcomed him to the party and subsequently left," says a city police official. "Nothing indicates that there was an event earlier that could have precipitated this.” The Globe and Mail reports that de Grood's last Facebook post was "Dread and the fugitive mind- the world needs a hero," a reference to a Megadeth song and its album title. The stabbing spree not only follows one at a Pittsburgh-area high school, but another in Canada. (More Calgary stories.)

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