Canada school shooter is charged with first degree murder

The high school student who was involved in a shooting spree that left four people dead has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder. His identity has not been revealed.

The teenager is suspected of having killed two brothers -- Drayden and Dayne Fontaine, aged 13 and 17 -- at their home before going on to the school.

At the school he allegedly opened fire again and shot dead two teachers, 21-year-old Marie Janvier and 35-year-old Adam Wood. He also injured seven other people, according to police.

The high school student was also charged with seven counts of attempted murder over those injured in Friday's attack at a home and nearby school in La Loche, in Saskatchewan province.

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall called the incident in the small aboriginal community a "terrible tragedy ... unimaginable and surreal."

The teenager was taken into custody after police received an emergency call about "a person discharging a weapon in the community," said RCMP superintendent Maureen Levy.

Prime Minster Justin Trudeau called the shooting "every parent's worst nightmare."

"Every individual in La Loche has been wounded by this event," said acting mayor Kevin Janvier. "These emotional and mental wounds... will take years to heal.

"The most sorrowing and disastrous event has happened here, in the place where people should have felt safest, in our schools."

Candles burned all night outside La Loche Community School and on Friday night, hundreds of people held a vigil in memory of the victims.

av/bw (AFP, DPA)