Mother, 2 children found dead in Montreal's east end

A 42-year-old woman and her two young boys, ages two and four, were found dead Wednesday in a home in the east-end Montreal neighbourhood of Pointe-aux-Trembles.

Their deaths are being treated as suspicious. Police are not ruling out the possibility of a triple homicide.

The woman's partner, the father of the children, killed himself a day earlier in Joliette, 50 kilometres north, police confirmed.

The man has been identified as Nabil Yssaad, 46.

According to court records, Yssaad was charged with two counts of assault against the woman in August 2018.

Yssaad was acquitted last week, on Dec. 4, and he had signed a peace bond that included an order not to enter into contact with her for 12 months.

Const. Manuel Couture, a spokesperson for Montreal police, said officers discovered the bodies of the woman and her children at around 8 a.m. Wednesday.

The officers had gone to the brick townhouse on Place des Pointeliers, a quiet residential street, to inform the family of the father's death. When no one answered, they grew worried and entered.

Couture said the deaths of the woman and two boys are, for now, being treated as "suspicious."

Police have not publicly named the woman or the children.

Police cordoned off the dead-end street Wednesday and set up a command post as a team of investigators combed through evidence.

Two neighbours told CBC News they had seen police outside the home multiple times in recent months.

"It's terrible," said Elias Oudadsse, who lives nearby. "This is a quiet neighbourhood."

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