(Reuters) - Four people were found shot dead on Wednesday in a house in the Vancouver suburb of Richmond, and Canadian police launched a homicide probe.

       The identities of the victims were not released but they were believed to have known each other, local police said.

       Investigators said initial evidence showed it was "a targeted shooting" in a normally quiet neighborhood, but police do not believe the homicides were connected to gang violence in the region.

       Police said its officers were called to the location late on Tuesday and that the victims were likely killed on Monday night.

       The investigation was in its early stages, police added. "It is a traumatic incident the community is waking up to," David Lee from the homicide investigation team said in a statement.

       Firearm-related homicides in Canada have steadily increased, reaching 277 in 2020, according to government statistics. Since 2013, gang-related homicides in Canada’s largest cities have almost doubled.

       (Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru, writing by Kanishka Singh; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)