Landlord kills ‘innocent’ engaged couple over tenant dispute before being shot dead by cops

A landlord in Canada brutally killed a young engaged couple who lived in his building over an apparent housing dispute Saturday before he was shot dead by police.

The 57-year-old fatally shot tenants Carissa MacDonald and Aaron Stone outside a home in Stoney Creek, Ontario Saturday evening, Hamilton police said.

Both MacDonald, 27, and Stone, 28, were already dead when officers reached the property at 322 Jones Road around 5:40 p.m., the officials said.

The couple was “fleeing the residence” when they were shot, Hamilton Det. Sgt. Steve Berezuik told reporters Sunday morning, according to CBC News.

“They are truly innocent victims,” he said. “…This is a very tragic incident.”

The landlord, whose name was not released, then barricaded himself in the residence when cops arrived and armed himself with multiple firearms registered in his name as negotiators tried to convince him to surrender peacefully for several hours.

“We spent considerable time last night on the phone in attempts to negotiate a peaceful resolution with the male suspect,” Bereziuk said, according to the local outlet.

The suspect, instead, fired at an armored police vehicle and then shot multiple times at cops on the scene at about 10 p.m., Hamilton police said.

Officers fired back, striking him and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit is investigating the shooting as is routine with police-involved shootings. Six investigators and four forensic investigators have been assigned to the case, according to the unit.

The young couple were recently engaged to marry, CBC News reported. MacDonald was an educational assistant and Stone an electrician, according to the outlet.

Details about what led up to the tragic shooting are sparse, but Bereziuk said that the landlord-tenant dispute didn’t involve “a missed rental payment,” according to the local outlet.

“The early indication on that is it sounds like there was some type of dispute regarding the state of the home,” he said. “The specifics I don’t think I’ll get into at this point in time.”