Joshua Graves, 21, was shot and killed by police after three police officers shot at him when he allegedly refused to drop the knife he was using in the attack. The stabbings came just three days after Graves appeared in court for his first criminal offenses. He was arrested on Thursday, then charged and released on Friday. Ottawa police have identified the victims as 50-year-old Anne-Marie Ready, who worked as a trade commissioner at Global Affairs, and Jasmine Ready, a 15-year-old daughter, who said her school board recently finished 10th grade at the French Catholic high school Franco-Cité. Catherine Ready, the family’s 19-year-old eldest daughter, survived both the knife and police fire. He graduated last year, according to the Conseil des écoles catholiques du Center-Est. Graves’ relatives told CBC that he had previously shown romantic interest in one of the daughters and had told him to stop communicating with her.
3 policemen shot after he refused to throw a knife
Police showed up at 1273 Anoka Street at about 10:30 p.m. Monday after a 911 call from the home where screams were heard. Patrol officers arrived to find Graves stabbing Kathryn Reddy on the street just outside. He was ordered to drop the knife, according to preliminary information released by the Ontario Police Special Investigation Unit (SIU). When Graves disobeyed these orders, three different patrol officers shot at him. Graves was pronounced dead at the scene. Catherine Ready was taken to hospital with multiple stab wounds and gunshot wounds. Police found the bodies of her mother and sister nearby. A police officer uses a camera on Tuesday at the scene of a triple homicide south of the Ottawa core last night. (Francis Ferland / CBC) Neighbors described the family, especially the sisters, as friendly accessories on the street who often saw their dog walking or mowing the lawn. By Wednesday afternoon, the police film that had closed the scene had been torn down and a special cleaning crew was waiting to enter the Ready family home. Right next to Greg Graves’s house, a woman left trays of food and drink at the front door.
“He was my little boy”
Greg Graves, like many of the other Anoka residents late Monday night, watched police respond to what he did not realize was his own son in a violent outburst. He heard the sirens, the orders of the police to drop the knife, the shots. “He was my baby boy,” he told CBC News on Wednesday. In a statement to the Ready family, Greg Graves wrote: “Words cannot express how overwhelmed, confused and sad I am about the loss of your mother and daughter. “I think I know the demons my son was dealing with that led to terrible actions. It is a tragedy for all of us and we will need to understand and reconcile in the coming days.” Greg Graves said that there is deep pain in his heart and deep respect for all the loss of life. “May we find peace and forgiveness,” he said in a statement.
He was charged last week with the first offenses
According to court records, Joshua Graves was charged June 24 with three counts of criminal harassment, assault and sexual assault for allegedly stalking another woman with whom he went to school from March to June this year. The unjust allegations included that he repeatedly followed the woman, tried to contact her and tried to kiss her. Graves was released the same day he was charged, with Crown consent. According to a copy of his release order, Emily Graves’s mother acted as his guarantor and Joshua Graves was instructed to live with her in a residence other than his father’s house on Anoka Street.
History of mental illness
In her own statement, his mother told CBC News that she believed her typically nonviolent son – who has a history of mental illness and was receiving medical treatment – had a rupture with reality. “What Joshua did was not a reflection of the sweet boy who was struggling with mental illness while still trying to find himself in this world,” the statement said. According to his family, his struggles for mental health remained undiagnosed until August 2021, when he was diagnosed with a major depressive disorder. His family believes last week’s arrest was the catalyst for what happened. “This was the chain of events that led Joshua to mental collapse. He must have believed that these charges would be the end of his life and freedom,” the family said in a statement. His family does not want to justify his actions, they added, but he hopes to explain them. Joshua Graves had previously shown a romantic interest in one of Ready’s daughters, his family said, but he was told to stop having sex with her. The 21-year-old also had to stay out of contact with the woman who allegedly stalked other witnesses in the case, both in person and via social media, according to court records. He was ordered to hand over all digital and device passwords to his mother and was barred from possessing weapons. Both SIU and Ottawa police are continuing their investigation.
