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HALIFAX - Two people killed in Halifax on New Year's Eve were victims of intimate partner violence, police said Thursday, the latest deaths in a series of similar crimes in the province less than four months after lawmakers declared domestic violence an epidemic.

A 39-year-old man shot and killed his 40-year-old partner and her 73-year-old father in a car on Gottingen Street in downtown Halifax on Dec. 31, then shot and killed himself about a kilometre away from the crime scene, police told reporters.

The victims have been identified as Cora-Lee Smith and her father, Bradford Downey, both of whom were from the historically Black community of North Preston. The suspected shooter was identified as Matthew Costain. 

"Through our investigation, we believe the suspect was in a relationship with one of the victims," Halifax police Const. Martin Cromwell told reporters about Smith.

Investigators say they responded to reports of an injured person on Gottingen Street at about 10:35 p.m. on New Year's Eve and discovered Smith and Downey in a vehicle. Smith was dead at the scene and Downey was unresponsive and taken to hospital — where he died from gunshot wounds. Cromwell said the shooter's body was found close to a public skating oval at about 1:30 a.m., and a firearm was recovered at the scene.

Colter Simmonds, a friend of the family and resident of North Preston, said the news is hitting hard, as the community on the outskirts of Halifax has suffered from other instances of gun violence over the past four years. Gun violence combined with intimate-partner violence "creates more trauma and devastation to our community," Simmonds said.

Since Oct. 18, police in Nova Scotia have reported three cases of men who killed their female partners before taking their own lives. One case was reported in Yarmouth, N.S., and the other two occurred in suburban Halifax. In a vote supported by all political parties on Sept. 12, 2024, the Nova Scotia legislature formally declared domestic violence to be an epidemic.

The vote was in response to a recommendation from the commission of inquiry that investigated the worst mass shooting in modern ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø history, which claimed 22 lives on April 18-19, 2020, in Nova Scotia. That tragedy began with the gunman’s violent assault on his common-law spouse, and the public inquiry also heard the killer had a long history of domestic violence.

The mass shooting inquiry, formally known as the Mass Casualty Commission, found that “gender-based violence is ubiquitous and under-reported in Canada� and that this type of violence has become an epidemic. 

Advocates for victims of gender-based violence in the province have been urging the Progressive Conservative government to move more quickly on improving supports for victims. They've said a first step to address this crisis should be to provide more stable support for non-profit agencies that offer aid. 

Rev. Jivaro Smith, the pastor of Saint Thomas Baptist Church in North Preston, said he knew the homicide victims and their families. 

The pastor described Cora-Lee Smith as "a fun-loving person, with a love of life and respect for her family." 

Her father "was an amazing guy who wouldn't harm a flea. He's one of the nicest men you could ever come to know and he had a love for people," the pastor said, adding Downey had worked for a paving firm before retiring. 

"He would take the shirt off his back for his family members and his friends and people he came into contact with." 

He said the close-knit community is in a state of shock over the deaths. "There's a sense of devastation, shock, there's a grief for two innocent and nice people who didn't deserve this fate."

"It's affecting families across the community. We share in each other's joys and pains, and as a community we grieve and hurt together."

This report by ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø was first published Jan. 2, 2025.

— With files from Michael MacDonald in Halifax.