Mohammad Shafia (centre) speaks to a journalist outside his home in Montreal's Saint-Léonard district three days after his three daughters and another female relative were found dead in a submerged car near Kingston, Ont. (CBC)

Neighbours of the Shafia family in Montreal's Saint-Léonard borough say they are shocked to hear of the murder charges against the father, mother and eldest son.

Police in Kingston, Ont., announced Thursday that Mohammad Shafia, his wife, Tooba Mohammad Yehya, and their 18-year-old son, Hamid Mohammad Shafia, have each been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and four counts of conspiracy to murder.

The family's three teenaged sisters and their older relative, believed to be Mohammad Shafia's first wife, were found dead in a car at the bottom of a Rideau Canal lock near Kingston in June.

Neighbours said the three accused have appeared in a state of grief over the past three weeks.

Police haven't profferred a motive for the alleged murders, but a downstairs neighbour, Joyce Gilbert, described the family as patriarchal. She said, for example, that she saw the women and girls outside all winter shovelling snow.

A month or two before the deaths, Gilbert said, the eldest daughter, Zainab Shafia, ran away from home for at least a week.

"Because she wanted to have this boyfriend, and the family didn't want, because [he] wasn't the same, um, them they are Afghanistan, and he was Pakistan, I think," Gilbert said.

Zainab Shafia, 19, along with her sisters, Sahar Shafia, 17, Geeti Shafia, 13, and a female relative, Rona Amir Mohammed, 50, were found dead in the family's black Nissan Sentra when the vehicle was discovered under water in a Rideau Canal lock on June 30.

Other neighbours described the Shafia girls as being shy, quiet and traditional, but Alexia Maturi, a 12-year-old friend from the neighbourhood, remembered them differently. She said she only played with the girls when they were away from their house and their parents.

"They introduced me to new games at the park, and we like, we just shared.... They were like me: just outgoing, friendly, fun to play with. They were like a normal girl," Maturi said.

Another neighbour, who wished to not be named, said whenever a man came by the house, the Shafia girls would turn away or go indoors.

Community member in shock

The owner of an Afghan supermarket in the Montreal suburb of Brossard, who attended the funerals of the three teens and their relative, said he was shocked to hear of the murder charges.

Noor Mehri said he didn't know the family directly, but felt obliged to attend the funeral, held at an Islamic cemetery in suburban Laval on July 5.

Mehri said during the burial, the father collapsed and paramedics had to take him away.

"He was [lying] on the floor. At that time I don't know what problem he has, ambulance come and take him away.... He was not OK," Mehri said.

Mehri said he found the story peculiar when he heard the four females had been discovered dead underwater in the family car, but he said he never suspected it was anything other than a tragic accident.