Ottawa police say a 40-year-old dad killed his two sons inside their home on Monday, June 29, before dying by suicide in a burning vehicle near Kemptville, Ontario. Officers identified the man as Mohammad Al-Lami, who was on probation at the time for threatening his ex-wife.
An officer responded to a welfare call-out on Mandevilla Crescent in the morning hours of Monday when a concerned third party called the police, according to the Ottawa Police Service. Two boys aged seven and twelve years were found dead inside the house. Later that day, Al-Lami’s body was discovered in a burning car at a Highway 416 carpool park in Kemptville.
The police say that this incident now involves many different crime scenes all across eastern Ontario, including the fire at the dental clinic where Al-Lami worked. The names of the two boys have not been made public by the authorities because it is what the mother wants and respects the privacy of her family.
It was said that a multi-page handwritten letter was found in the desk at Al-Lami’s home office. The note accused the former wife and the system of the courts, mentioning three corrupt individuals.
The note reads, “I will kill everyone around you and your p**p … in a very wild and savage way. I won’t kill you. I will leave you alone, disabled in a wheelchair that you can’t move, even to visit your loved ones’ graves.”
Records show Al-Lami’s violence was not sudden. According to court documents obtained by CBC News, he was charged in 2024 after emailing his ex-wife a threat to leave her “disabled in a wheelchair” and vowing to “kill everyone around” her. The boys’ mother testified she reported the threat because she feared for her safety, telling the court,
“I just don’t know what can happen. I just didn’t want to live with the unpredictability.”
— Al-Lami’s ex-wife, trial testimony, Cbc.ca
Prosecutors offered Al-Lami a peace bond that would have resolved the charges without a criminal conviction, an offer Ontario Court Justice Norman Boxall later called highly unusual to reject.
“I don’t understand why you’ve done this trial. The Crown made you an offer which would have guaranteed you wouldn’t have a criminal record. You turned it down, for reasons I don’t understand.”
— Ontario Court Justice Norman Boxall, February 22, 2026 trial, Cbc.ca
Al-Lami turned it down, insisting on a trial because he believed he would be vindicated.
“I don’t understand why you’ve done this trial. The Crown made you an offer which would have guaranteed you wouldn’t have a criminal record. You turned it down, for reasons I don’t understand.”
— Ontario Court Justice Norman Boxall, February 22, 2026 trial, Cbc.ca
Al-Lami’s original defense lawyer had withdrawn from the case in December 2025, telling the court his client had threatened him.
Clarissa Arthur, executive director of Nelson House of Ottawa Carleton, a women and children’s shelter, said blaming others while denying responsibility for abuse is a documented warning sign in abusers.
“Externalizing responsibility is a key indicator of the potential for intimate partner violence.”
— Clarissa Arthur, Executive Director, Nelson House of Ottawa Carleton, Cbc.ca
Police said Thursday the investigation remains active pending forensic examinations, and no further details have been released.
