Nov 30, 2008 - 08:13 AM

Jason Miller and Iain Marlow

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OSHAWA -- A birthday party in a south Oshawa townhouse erupted in violence last night leaving two adults dead and two children injured, one critically, police said.

Another man was in critical condition.

According to neighbours, a man who they say had a history of drug abuse stabbed a woman to death, then stabbed a man in the back of the head before slashing a 3-year-old boy and a 7-year-old child.

When police responded, the attacker confronted them and was shot dead in an adjoining unit in the townhouse complex on Glen St. near Wentworth St. W.

Durham Regional Police spokesperson Sgt. Paul McCurbin said police received a 911 call around 4:30 p.m. "from a female who reported she had been stabbed. The female was not located initially, but they located a male who appeared to be involved in the incident," he said.

"After a confrontation with the officers, the male was shot by the officer, and then succumbed to his injuries.

"The female, as well as three other persons, were taken to hospital, where they remain," Sgt. McCurbin said. He would not confirm the woman's death at the time.

Three other children, who were not injured, were taken to a nearby police station for safekeeping, said John Yoannou, a spokesperson for the provincial Special Investigations Unit, which was called in to take over the investigation.

"You can just imagine the terror those children must have felt," Yoannou said.

Newsdurhamregion.com was told that the injured children were 4 and 7 years old.

Police wouldn't confirm names or ages. But neighbours said the violence began with an argument between a man they identified as Gino and another man identified as Ricky Kelly, who lives in the unit with his wife Leslie Kelly.

The husband and wife were hosting a birthday party.

Residents say Gino, upset by a custody arrangement that denied him access to his child, stabbed Leslie several times before stabbing Ricky in the back of the head.

He then turned the knife on the two children, one of whom, neighbours said, was his own son.

The injured children were both rushed to Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, where one is in critical condition.

Lindsay Demels, a neighbour across the street, said the attacker had mental and drug issues. "I was home cooking dinner and I saw the police go by," said Demels, who went outside and "saw the EMS trying to revive Leslie," she said, referring to the stabbed woman.

"I am shocked to have seen this because I have four kids at home."

 -- Jason Miller and Iain Marlow are reporters with the Toronto Star