Royal Canadian Mounted Police have arrested a man in connection with five people found dead in three locations on Sunday, including three children.

Mounties were first called to a report of a hit-and-run near the Manitoba town of Carman at about 7:30 a.m. They found the body of a woman in a ditch, CTV News reported.

About two and a half hours later police in Cartier were called about a car fire. Before police could arrive, a witness pulled three young children out of the car; all three were pronounced dead at the scene.

The suspect, a 29-year-old man, was taken into custody at the car fire scene.

Further investigation led detectives to a home in Carman, where they found the body of a second woman.

Police did not release the identities of the victims or the suspect but said they were all known to one another and that all five deaths are considered suspicious and linked.

Insp. Tim Arseneault of RCMP major crime services said that no charges have been filed so far, CBC reported.

“We are working backwards to see what kind of timeline, and we don’t have that yet. I know there are not a lot of answers, but we are very early in on this and we wanted to share what we know at this time,” Arseneault said.

“As a parent, I simply can’t imagine the enormity of your loss,” he said. “The community of Carman and surrounding areas will also be grieving as they have lost some of their youngest residents in such a tragic way.”

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