On April 14, 2014, a group of friends had a small get-together at their home near the University of Calgary campus in the northwest neighbourhood of Brentwood.

Five young people shared a small, grey-and-blue split-level house on a quiet block on Butler Crescent.

The house was a well-known rental for university students that many affectionately called the “Butler Mansion.”

It was a relatively small gathering, with many of those invited having gone to junior high or high school together. The rest knew each other from university. 

It was an amazing group of young people that included an accomplished dancer, an aspiring urban planner, two talented musicians, and a young man who was well on his way to becoming a humanitarian.

For the most part, the mood of the party was laid back and relaxed.

No one could have predicted the terrifying turn the night would take and how quickly it would all unravel.

It was a day that left a scar on the soul of the city -- the biggest mass killing in Calgary’s history.

On this episode of the Global News podcast Crime Beat, crime reporter Nancy Hixt looks the Brentwood five massacre.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices