5 arrested in Canada in deaths of 8 bikers

? Police arrested five people on murder charges Monday for one of Canada’s worst mass killings and said the deaths of eight men found on an isolated farm were part of “an internal cleansing” of a motorcycle gang.

Police said they made the arrests at a modest, two-story farmhouse about six miles from where the eight men were found shot to death in four vehicles scattered in a wooded field in Shedden, Ontario, about 90 miles northeast of Detroit.

Police said investigators do not believe a biker gang war was imminent.

“This is an isolated incident with ties to the Bandidos,” said Detective Ross Bingley of the Ontario Provincial Police, describing the killings as “an internal cleansing.”

Police said Bandidos member Wayne Kellestine, 56, would be charged with eight counts of first-degree murder.

Also arrested and charged with eight counts of murder were Eric Niessen, 45; Kerry Morris, 56; Frank Mather, 32; and Brett Gardiner, 21. The four were not members of the Bandidos.

An Ottawa Provincial Police officer displays biker vests seized in raids prior to a news conference in London, Ontario Monday April 10, 2006. Five people have been arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the gangland-style shooting of eight men who were associated with or full-fledged members of the notorious Bandidos motorcycle gang, police said Monday.

All five suspects were either from Monkton, Ontario, or the Dutton-Dunwich area, a small farming community in southwestern Ontario between London and the U.S. border. Police said Gardiner had no fixed address.

Murray and Brenda Silcox, owners of Palmer’s general goods at the only intersection in Shedden – a farming community of only 300 people that celebrates an annual rhubarb festival – said while residents were stunned by the murders, few knew the suspects or the victims found Saturday morning.

“It’s like somebody else’s world dropped on ours,” said Brenda Silcox, whose family store has been in business for 85 years. “It would be different if it were your neighbor, or somebody you know.”

Police Detective Don Bell also described the shootings as an “internal cleansing” within the gang and insisted there was little reason for public fear.

“I think this is an isolated incident and I wouldn’t expect to see any significant fallout from it,” Bell said.