Canada police: 9 dead in 3 separate Edmonton-area crime scenes

Police investigate the scene where multiple deaths occurred overnight in Edmonton, Alberta, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2014. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jason Franson) (The Associated Press)

Police investigate a scene where a car rammed a truck and damaged a restaurant in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2014. Edmonton City Police Chief Rod Knecht spoke Tuesday about multiple homicides that took place at different scenes over night in Edmonton, Alberta. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jason Franson) (The Associated Press)

Edmonton City Police Chief Rod Knecht speaks about multiple homicides that took place at different scenes over night in Edmonton, Alberta, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2014. Police have confirmed the deaths of six adults and two young children in what Chief Ron Knecht called a "senseless mass murder." (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jason Franson) (The Associated Press)

Nine people, including seven adults and two young children, were found dead at three separate crime scenes in what Edmonton's police chief on Tuesday called a "senseless mass murder."

Chief Ron Knecht told a news conference the killings were the result of domestic violence and the victims included a woman found Monday night by officers who were responding to a weapons complaint at a south Edmonton home.

The bodies of three more women, two men, a boy and a girl were discovered a few hours later at a home in the northeast part of the city where officers had checked on reports of a suicidal male earlier in the evening.

None of the victims was identified, but Knecht said the public was not in danger.

"This series of events are not believed to be random acts," he said. "These events do not appear to be gang-related, but rather tragic incidents of domestic violence."

A man matching the description of the suicidal male was found dead in a restaurant in the Edmonton bedroom community of Fort Saskatchewan on Tuesday morning, Knecht said.

"Our homicide investigators have established associations and linkages between these homicides," he said.

Police would not elaborate on the connection between the deaths.