A 73-year-old man killed five of his neighbors living in the same apartment building and injured another in a shootout in suburban Toronto, police said and have opened an investigation.
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The suspect, Francesco Villi, also died after being shot dead by law enforcement. He resided in the building in Vaughan, a town about 30 kilometers north of Toronto, Ontario.
Three men and two women died, local police chief Jim MacSween told reporters on Monday, who are now trying to identify the motive for the killings.
“All the victims resided in the building,” he said, adding that three of them were part of the board of directors of the syndicate of this condominium.
“We are really shocked and sorry that such an incident took place in our region,” he regretted, lamenting a “heartbreaking incident”.
Their bodies were found in three apartments in the building.
A 66-year-old woman was also “seriously injured and is in hospital,” MacSween said, adding that her life is not in danger.
According to the daily Toronto Star, which relies in particular on court documents, the suspect had a long-standing conflict with the condominium council of the building, which had requested a restraining order against the “alleged threatening behavior, abusive, intimidating and harassing of Mr. Villi”.
According to Kristy Denette, spokeswoman for Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit, which investigates every time officers use their weapon, “an officer shot and killed the man” in a corridor.
At around 8 p.m., the suspect was pronounced dead at the scene and a semi-automatic weapon was found at the scene, she said.
“There were several deceased people on several floors” of the building, she added.
At the beginning of the evening, around 7:20 p.m., the police were called for shooting and “once they arrived on the spot, the officers were confronted with a terrible scene with several people already deceased”, explained Sunday evening to the press Mr. MacSween .
One of the officers fired his firearm, killing the suspect, on the third floor of the building.
“To the families and friends of the victims of yesterday’s shooting in Vaughan: my thoughts are with you. To the person who was injured: I wish you a speedy and complete recovery,” responded Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Twitter.
Monday morning, the mayor of Vaughan, Steven Del Duca underlined the “horrible tragedy” which shakes the community “a few days before Christmas and Hanukkah”. “It’s something I never thought I’d see here,” he said, adding that people were “in absolute shock.”
Less familiar with mass shootings than its American neighbour, Canada is, however, experiencing an upsurge in violent acts of this type, which prompted authorities to recently legislate to ban handguns.
In April 2020, a gunman disguised as a policeman killed 22 people in Nova Scotia, in the east of the country, the worst killing recorded in Canada.
In September, a man killed 11 people and stabbed 18 others mainly in an isolated indigenous community in the center of the country.