Toronto, Canada: Six people, including the suspect, died and one person was wounded in a shooting at a high-rise condominium building near Toronto on Sunday when a 73-year-old gunman is alleged to have killed his neighbours before being shot dead by police.
Police rushed to the Ontario city of Vaughan, about 50 km (31 miles) north of downtown Toronto, after receiving a call about an active shooter at about 7:20 p.m. ET on Sunday (0020 GMT on Monday), York Regional Police Chief Jim MacSween told reporters.
MacSween said police found the suspect, identified as building resident Francesco Villi, before fatally shooting him in a hallway of the 16-story building. The officer who killed the suspect "very likely saved lives by his actions last night," MacSween said.
All victims lived in the building. There were three adult men and two adult women who died and a 66-year-old woman in hospital with serious injuries.
"Three victims were members of the condominium board but the motive for the shooting remains part of this very complicated and very fluid investigation which is still ongoing at this time," he said.
Authorities recovered dead bodies from several floors as well as a semi-automatic handgun that is suspected to be the weapon used in the shooting, a spokesperson for Ontario's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) told reporters.
The SIU, which probes deaths involving police, said the suspect's post-mortem examination was scheduled for Tuesday.
Canada has much stricter gun laws than the United States, but Canadians are allowed to own firearms providing they have a license. Restricted or prohibited firearms, like handguns, must also be registered.
In a recent lawsuit dismissed as frivolous, he reportedly made several wild and unsubstantiated allegations including that an electrical room beneath his unit was emitting "electromagnetic waves which have caused him significant pain and suffering over the years."
One of several officers responding to the emergency call opened fire on the shooter in a third floor hallway of the building, killing him.
Kristy Denette, a spokeswoman for Ontario's Special Investigative Unit, which is called in to investigate whenever an officer discharges a firearm, said earlier that the victims had been found on several different floors.
The suspect was pronounced dead by paramedics at the scene, and a semi-automatic handgun was recovered by police, she said.
"Everybody is horrified ... to wake up to this news this morning, to hear it last night. People are just in absolute shock," Vaughan Mayor Steven Del Duca said on Monday.
Vaughan has a population of about 320,000.
Canada homicide rate
Canada's gun homicide rate is a fraction of the United States' rate, 2020 data showed, but is still higher than other wealthy countries and has been rising. Handguns were the main weapon used in the majority of firearm-related violent crimes between 2009 and 2020.
Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government has been trying to tackle gun violence through measures including a ban on the sale, purchase or transfer of handguns that took effect in October.
"To the families and friends of the victims of yesterday's shooting in Vaughan: I'm keeping you in my thoughts," Trudeau said on Twitter.
The suspect, identified by authorities as Francesco Villi, lived at the condominium building in Vaughan, Ontario, and appeared to have targeted members of its board.
"All of the victims resided in the condo building," police chief Jim MacSween told a news conference.
Motive
"Three were members of the condominium board," he said, adding that the motive behind the killings was still being investigated.
MacSween described the crime scene as "heartbreaking."
The daily Toronto Star, citing sources close to the investigation, said Villi had clashed with the condo board, which in turn accused him of "threatening, abusive, intimidating and harassing behaviour." In a recent lawsuit dismissed as frivolous, he reportedly made several wild and unsubstantiated allegations including that an electrical room beneath his unit was emitting "electromagnetic waves which have caused him significant pain and suffering over the years." One of several officers responding to the emergency call opened fire on the shooter in a third floor hallway of the building, killing him. Kristy Denette, a spokeswoman for Ontario's Special Investigative Unit, which is called in to investigate whenever an officer discharges a firearm, said earlier that the victims had been found on several different floors. The suspect was pronounced dead by paramedics at the scene, and a semi-automatic handgun was recovered by police, she said.
Vaughan mayor Steven Del Duca said Monday morning that it was an "unspeakable" and "horrible tragedy."
"People are just in absolute shock," he said. "This is something that I never thought I would see here especially just a few days before Christmas (and) at the start of Hanukkah."
In April 2020, a gunman disguised as a policeman killed 22 people in the eastern province of Nova Scotia, Canada's worst mass shooting.
In September this year, a man killed 11 people and stabbed 18 others, mainly in an isolated Indigenous community in Saskatchewan province.
Firearms-related violent crimes account for less than three percent of all violent crimes in Canada - but since 2009 the per capita rate of guns being fired with intent to kill or wound has increased fivefold.
Canada banned 1,500 types of military-grade or assault-style firearms in May 2020, days after the Nova Scotia shooting.
Parliament is considering adding many more weapons to its prohibited weapons list, but the ruling Liberals have faced pushback from hunters and sports shooters.
