Photo: Keith Minchin/The Canadian Press Via AP OTTAWA — Two police officers were among four people killed Friday in a shooting that sparked panic and a police lockdown in a sleepy eastern Canadian city, as the nation grapples with rising gun violence.

Residents of the Brookside neighborhood of Fredericton, New Brunswick woke to the sounds of multiple gunshots.

Witnesses told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. they saw the barrel of a rifle or shotgun poking out from the window of a low-rise apartment building and firing into a courtyard, while two bodies lay on the ground nearby.

Heavily-armed police, paramedics and firefighters quickly descended on the scene and a lockdown of the neighborhood was ordered, trapping some early risers in daycare facilities, coffee shops and businesses.

Others were escorted from their homes — some still in pyjamas and barefoot — to safety beyond a police cordon.

Fredericton Deputy Police Chief Martin Gaudet told reporters the two officers killed were responding to an emergency call about gunshots. They were identified as Lawrence Robert Costello, 45 and Sara Mae Helen Burns, 43.

AFPAgence France-Presse is an international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835, AFP is the third largest news agency in the world, after the Associated Press and Reuters.