RESIDENTS of this scenic wine country town are in shock after an estranged husband shot and killed nine people and then killed himself in Canada's second worst murder suicide.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the gunman, Mark Vijay Chahal (30), entered the house on Friday and opened fire as relatives prepared for the wedding that day of his wife's sister.
"The motive that we're pursuing . . . is that he chose to take revenge on the entire family," said RCMP Sgt Doug Hartl.
Chahal's estranged wife, Rajwar Kaur Gakhal (25) and the bride to be, Balwinder Kaur Gakhal (24), were among the victims in town of 23,500 residents about 300 km north east of Vancouver.
Witnesses described a horrifying scene as Chahal opened fire with a .40 calibre semi automatic handgun and a .30 calibre revolver.
He had two guns. One in each hand, just like the old western style shooters, blasting away," a neighbour, Mr Rick Young, told the Canadian Press news agency.
"He was only a few yards away. He turned and looked me in the eye. I thought I was going to die. He had a full opportunity to plug me full of holes. But he just turned away from me and went around again to the back of the house and then fired some shots at the back."
Police found six people dead when they arrived at the house. The head of the family, Karnail Singh Gakhal (50), who moved to Canada over 20 years ago from Punjab, India, lay dead in a pool of blood. Three other victims died later in hospital.
An elderly woman and a six year old girl remain in hospital with gunshot wounds. Two children in the house were unharmed.
Chahal committed suicide soon after at a nearby motel, police said. He left a note apologising for the massacre.
Police said Chahal's wife had filed one complaint against him for threatening hear last year.
About 300 guests were to attend the wedding.
The groom was on his way to Vernon when the shootings occurred. His whereabouts are not known.
The other dead included Darshan Kaur Gakhat (45), Kalwinder Kaur Gakhal (21), Jaspal Singh Gakhal (14), Halvinder Kaur Gakhal (17), all of Vernon. Balgit (Roger) Saran (33), and Jasbir Kaur Saran (30), both of Abbotsford, British Columbia, were also killed.
"The community is in a state of deep shock. It's something you read about happening in other parts of the world, but certainly not here," Vernon's mayor, Mr Wayne McGrath, said.
The country's largest multiple murder happened in 1989 when a gunman, Marc Lepine, killed 14 women at the University of Montreal before shooting himself.