A police prescence continues at the scene of an alleged shooting at the corner of Lakeview Street and Heales Avenue in Penticton this morning, April 15, 2019.

(STEVE ARSTAD / iNFOnews.ca)

PENTICTON - Four people are dead after what Penticton's top cop is calling an "unprecedented" series of shootings.

Penticton RCMP have lifted area restrictions in the Lakeview Street and Skaha Lake Road area as the police transition to an investigative mode following what RCMP detachment commander Supt. Ted De Jager called “a dark day for Penticton."

A 60-year-old Penticton man is in custody, with police contemplating murder charges following the shooting deaths of two men and two women today, April 15.

De Jager said police have swept the city and have not found any new victims following the discovery of one victim on Lakeview Street and three more victims on Cornwall Drive, all within a five kilometre radius.

Police won’t be confirming identities of the victims, De Jager told a press conference late this afternoon at the Penticton RCMP detachment.

Police are investigating the motive for the shootings, which they are saying were targeted killings. The suspect turned himself in after driving his black Jetta to the RCMP detachment around 11:30 a.m.

The City of Penticton activated it Emergency Response Operations Centre in response to the serious police incidents today. De Jager expressed thanks to the the public for assistance in reporting the crimes and observing police restrictions in the city.

Officers also dealt with an armed standoff on Skaha Lake Road and Yorkton Avenue area in the south end of town, which has now ended. The matter was not related to the shootings and police arrested an individual at the Empire Motel under the Mental Health Act this afternoon.

De Jager told said the investigation is unprecedented in the city, calling the shootings “difficult to comprehend."

"We're still trying to find the motive for this whole incident, so that's part of the ongoing investigation," De Jager said. "I understand that this is a deeply troubling incident that has taken place in our community."

Penticton RCMP examine a black Jetta believed to be the the suspect's vehicle in today's shooting rampage in Penticton, April 16, 2019.

(STEVE ARSTAD / iNFOnews.ca)

There was still a police presence  at the intersection of Heales Avenue and Lakeview Street, as well as in the 2400 block of Cornwall Drive late today.

Resident Donny Herron said he had just taken his son to day care when the Lakeview Street shooting occurred.

“Apparently an older gentleman fired some shots and then took off down Hanes Street. I just drove by, I was taking my son to day care when all that was going down, or maybe it had just happened,” Herron said. "When I returned, I couldn’t get back this way, apparently the guy had taken off. The police presence here has lightened up.”

Diana McGregor said she believes she heard four shots just after 10 a.m.

"I wasn’t sure where the shots were coming from, I heard a guy yelling, sounding mad. I couldn’t hear what he said,” she said.

McGregor then saw a man walking with a gun.

“He had a rifle, I couldn’t tell what he looked like. I thought he was shooting at a deer,” she said.

“Then I saw a dead person on the ground,” she said, adding a neighbour said the guy living in the house near the incident had been out pruning trees.

RCMP are asking the public to stay out of the area bordered by Eckhardt Avenue and Lakeshore Drive, and Main Street and Power Street.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/RCMP

— With files from The Canadian Press

— This story was updated at 3:40 p.m. and 5:12 p.m. Monday, April 15, 2019 with new information from RCMP.

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