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UPDATE: Courtenay man charged with two counts of murder

Man and woman found deceased in a home on Urquhart Avenue Wednesday morning.
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Comox Valley RCMP investigate a double homicide Wednesday morning at a Courtenay home on Urquhart Avenue.

A 42-year-old Courtenay man has been charged with two counts of murder, following a double homicide early Wednesday morning.

The man was transported to hospital with a self-inflicted gunshot injury, and is set to appear in court in Courtenay Oct. 11.

A second man, who was arrested at the scene, has been released from custody without charge.

An autopsy for the two victims is scheduled for later this week.

Around 3 a.m. Oct. 5, police attended a residence on the 2300 block of Urquhart Avenue in Courtenay, where a woman and man were found dead in the home.

“They are known to each other, but I’m not sure of the relationship at this point,” said Const. Rob Gardner of the Comox Valley RCMP.

Darrel Carpenter, who lives just doors down from the residence, said he and his wife heard noises and screaming as they were getting ready to go to bed.

“We heard at least five, six shots. We were in our bedroom and … (my wife) heard a woman screaming and there were a couple of more shots. We thought it was someone banging on a shed or something. There’s been trouble there a few times, and actually during the summer we phoned the cops because there was a guy with a truck threatening to shoot somebody.”

Carpenter added a man and a woman had been living in the home for a couple of years, and are known in the neighbourhood as partiers, “so they’re always yelling and screaming.”

The investigation is ongoing, with assistance from the Comox Valley RCMP Forensic Identification Section and the BC Coroners Service.



Erin Haluschak

About the Author: Erin Haluschak

Erin Haluschak is a journalist with the Comox Valley Record since 2008. She is also the editor of Trio Magazine...
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