Friends and relatives are mourning the loss of Ed Schellenberg, a gas maintenance worker reportedly found dead along with five other men in a Surrey, B.C. apartment.
CTV British Columbia named Schellenberg as one of the slain men in the gruesome multiple homicide, but police have not confirmed his identity.
Schellenberg, of Abbotsford, was hired to clean and repair fireplaces at the Balmoral Tower, where he was found killed last Friday on the 15th floor.
Sources told Â鶹´«Ã½ that another maintenance worker was with him hours before, but Schellenberg told him to leave early, possibly saving the man's life.
A tenant of the building, Sigmund Aumueller, told The Canadian Press he met with Schellenberg on Thursday.
"A very friendly, very nice man," said Aumueller. "I really feel bad that he was involved -- not really involved -- but that he walked in on the wrong place at the right time."
The RCMP have not confirmed the identities of any of the slain men, or said whether the gruesome multiple murder was gang-related.
Cpl. Dale Carr had said the names would likely be released Monday afternoon, but he later changed that plan.
"(The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team) will not being holding a news briefing as originally thought as investigators have not been able to confirm the identity of the male victims," Carr said in a press release.
"It would be highly inappropriate for police to release any names without being 100 per cent satisfied that the person is who we may think it is."
The release went on to state that police would not be speaking to media Monday, as there was nothing new to report.
Earlier in the day, Carr said police were in the process of wrapping up their investigation of the crime scene.
The coroner has now removed the bodies from the apartment, and Carr said the location would soon be released so that residents of the building could return to their homes.
Carr said police believe the murders were not random, and there is no risk to area residents. However, he offered no details about whether those killed were targeted or were possibly entangled in a murder-suicide.
"We're pretty confident that this is self-contained. We're in a position to say that we feel it's not a random act," Carr said.
"It has a lot of earmarks of something that's not random. I can't get into specifics, obviously, but the city of Surrey and the RCMP in the city of Surrey, have done remarkable work to keep this community safe, and I still think it's a safe place to be."
Carr said the number of victims adds to the complexity of the investigation, but police are making progress.
Police are working on a number of theories about what took place in the apartment.
"It's a little early to get into exactly whether it was gang-related, organized crime. As investigators we have a number of theories that we have up on the board, and in the next few days we will be able to eliminate some of those and be more definitive," Carr said.
With reports from CTV British Columbia
