Vaughan gunman, 73, feuded with condo board over ‘electromagnetic waves.’ Victims include three board members

The condo board at the Vaughan highrise had filed a restraining order against Francesco Villi, according to court documents.

Thestar.com
Dec. 20, 2022
Alessia Passiafiume
May Warren
Jennifer Pagliaro

Three of the victims of a “horrific” mass shooting at a Vaughan condo Sunday were members of the building’s condo board, York Regional Police have confirmed.

In a press conference Monday afternoon, Chief Jim MacSween also confirmed investigators believe 73-year-old Francesco Villi is responsible for the murders. Villi, who detailed a litany of unsubstantiated grievances with members of the board in court documents and countless social media posts, was killed by police after they were called to the high-end Bellaria Towers complex for an “active shooter.”

“We realize a crime of this magnitude is traumatizing for friends and family who at this time of year especially now must deal with the tragic death of their loved ones,” MacSween said at a Monday afternoon news conference.

Five victims were killed in the rampage through three separate units in the building, with Villi the sixth death in one of the GTA’s deadliest mass killings.

The killed victims have not yet been identified; MacSween said the office of the chief coroner was not yet ready to release the names.

MacSween did say all of the victims lived at the condo. Three were adult males and two were adult females.

According to a public provincial registry for the condo corporation, there were five active members of the board as of June 2022.

Police said a sixth person, a 66-year-old woman was “seriously injured” and remained in hospital. In a statement briefly posted online Monday, the Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 113 Toronto, said that Doreen DiNino, wife of union president and condo board member John DiNino, is a surviving victim of the mass shooting.

“We are grateful to learn that she has survived this horrific incident and is undergoing emergency surgery today,” the union wrote, before later deleting the statement.

Another member of the board, Tony Cutrone, reached by the Star, said he hasn’t been able to contact his colleagues on the board.

“I messaged and tried to call them and they didn’t call back,” he said, still reeling from the news.

The shootings Sunday took place across three separate units, MacSween said, ending on the third floor where Villi was shot by a 24-year veteran of the force.

That officer “very likely saved lives by his actions last night,” said the chief, not identifying the officer who is now the subject of a Special Investigations Unit probe. The police watchdog investigates all cases of serious harm and death involving police.

MacSween did not offer a timeline of events prior to the call to police, and could not say how long the shootings lasted. He said once the emergency call was received at 7:21 p.m., officers arrived within four minutes.

He said “multiple” search warrants will be executed, and investigators can’t yet confirm a motive for the shooting.

According to public court documents, social media posts, and the accounts of surviving board members, Villi had been in a long-standing dispute with the condo board before he opened fire Sunday

Scene of a multiple homicide at Bellaria Residences II. Six people are dead after an "active shooter" incident at the Vaughan condo building.

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According to those documents, the condo board had previously filed a restraining order against Villi’s “allegedly threatening, abusive, intimidating and harassing behaviour.”

In a recent lawsuit including a wild series of unsubstantiated allegations, Villi believed condo board members were trying to intentionally harm him. His claims against three currently listed condo board members and three others, were dismissed by a judge in September as “frivolous and/or vexatious.”

Villi’s claim offered “a complete absence of material facts pleaded in support of any of the claims raised,” the judge found, ordering him to pay legal costs.

Among other things in the suit, Villi alleged that the defendants had committed “‘Acts of Crime and Criminality’ from 2010 onwards” and that an electrical room below his unit was improperly constructed, causing “the emission of electromagnetic waves which have caused him significant pain and suffering over the years.”

Villi detailed another long series of similarly unsubstantiated allegations in a chain of public social media posts and videos going back several years.

“They are murdering me in my own home for self-interest and money. I want to say for them to please stop. They have harmed me enough for seven years,” he said in one among many representative videos.

At the scene Monday morning, the entrance to the highrise was blocked with police tape and surrounded by several York region police cars, as well as a forensics identification unit vehicle.

Cutrone, the current board member reached by the Star, said he became part of the board in part because his elderly mother -- for whom he owns a unit -- had been bullied by Villi in the past.

He said he was not there Sunday when the gunman opened fire. Since the attack, he said he has been unable to contact other board members.

“I messaged and tried to call them and they didn’t call back,” he said, still reeling from the news.

After the shooting, officers “came in with rifles” to his mother’s unit “looking for me making sure I was OK,” he said. His mom called him to ask what was going on, which is how he learned of the attack.

Recalling his and his mother’s experiences with Villi, Cutrone, who works as a real estate agent, described him as “ill” and said he had offered to find him a place at a care home.

“I knew he was a problem, but I didn’t think he was murderous,” Cutrone said.

Cutrone added he’s spoken to police about counselling for residents like his mother, who was not targeted Sunday.

Resident John Santoro said he had been on the condo board for about a year, five years ago and remembered Villi’s complaints, including about the electrical system.

Speaking to reporters outside the building, Santoro described Villi as “not a monster,” and said he thought he needed “professional help.”

“I commented to my wife several times it’s going to end very badly,” Santoro said.

On Sunday, he said he “heard a commotion in the corridor” and opened his door to officers with “rifles right outside my door in the elevator lobby.”

A tactical unit came in later around 10:30-11 p.m. to clear the building, he said.

At noon Monday, the SIU confirmed the gunman used a semi-automatic handgun, which MacSween could not confirm.

According to the September lawsuit, Villi believed the board was acting on behalf of the “powerful developer” who built the building.

Villi sought millions in damages, alleging the defendants were “deliberately causing harm, stress physically, mentally, financially, confusion inability to rest and sleep for over 5 years, torment, torture that cannot be explain (sic) in words.”

The judge’s ruling also detailed Villi’s many attempts to pursue the board and, noted that board members had worried about his threatening behaviour, filing the restraining application in November 2018.

The ruling also notes the condo board had sought to stop Villi’s posts on social media.

Villi had been scheduled to appear Monday morning in the Newmarket courthouse in his lawsuit against the condo corporation.

Justice Mary Vallee began the proceeding by saying it was “not a good morning,” according to a court transcript.

“My information (is that) Mr. Villi passed away last night.”

She put on the record that there is a “permanent stay” on the matter.

Social media accounts under Villi’s name feature countless videos railing against his treatment, with videos seen by the Star heavily laced with talk of God and redemption.

His most recent Facebook video, posted Sunday shortly before 3 p.m. shows him on the phone with a staff member at the Toronto law firm Shibley Righton LLP.

“Can I die in peace? (It’s been) seven years of torture,” Villi said, in tears.

He then talks of an apocalypse in which God will reign down and only those who are pure will survive, while the others will “perish forever.”

Vaughan Mayor Steven Del Duca tweeted his condolences early Monday morning to the families of victims, adding he wants to recognize the “brave first responders” working to safeguard the situation.

Police are asking that anyone with any information involving the incident contact the York Regional Police homicide unit at 1-288-876-5423 ext. 7865 or email homicide@yrp.ca. They can also call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS, or leave an anonymous tip online at www.1800222tips.com.