A 39-year-old man has been charged with stabbing his mother and stepfather inside their Barrhaven home after he evaded arrest in an hours-long stand-off with police on Sunday night, CBC News has learned.
Conor Donnelly has been charged with second-degree murder for allegedly killing his mother 64-year-old Linda Frederick.
Donnelly has also been charged with attempted murder for stabbing his 66-year-old stepfather, Michel Sabourin, who remains in hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Donnelly appeared in court via video from the Ottawa police cellblock on Monday afternoon, where he was ordered not to communicate with three people and ordered to undergo a mental fitness assessment.
During the brief appearance he called the justice of the peace a “fake judge” and threatened to “annihilate” those addressing him, whom he also called “losers.” Justice of the peace Andrew Seymour asked the court to mute the accused for being “abusive.”
Donnelly made reference to being a “front-line worker” who knows his rights and told court he would take the proceedings seriously when he was in a real court. His Facebook profile lists his current employment as an
“aide” at the Queensway Carleton Hospital.
Donnelly does not yet have a lawyer.
WATCH: Woman killed, man injured in double stabbing:
Suspect barricaded himself in home
Emergency crews were called to a home on Sherway Drive, south of the Walter Baker Sports Centre, around 9:30 p.m. Sunday.
That call for help was made by Donnelly’s stepfather after he had been stabbed, according to sources. Sabourin made his way to a neighbour’s front porch where first responders found him with multiple stab wounds. He was taken to hospital.
Police and paramedics then entered the couple’s home at 72 Sherway Dr. where they found Frederick. Emergency crews were able to remove the woman’s body from the home before Donnelly allegedly barricaded himself inside the home, according to sources.
Donnelly, who did not live at the house, was armed with a knife, police sources said, and allegedly threatened to harm police.
Crisis negotiators and armed tactical officers were on scene and police evacuated nearby homes during the police operation. Just before 2 a.m., tactical officers went into the home’s garage and arrested the man, according to sources.
Neighbours on Sherway Drive told CBC News they awoke to police sirens and lights as tactical officers descended on the residential street.
Donnelly is next scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 17.
This is the city’s 15th homicide of 2021.
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