'Torturing noise': Neighbours identify Vaughan mass shooter

Francesco "Frank" Villi was shot by police after allegedly killing five in rampage

Yorkregion.com
Dec. 20, 2022
Jeremy Grimaldi

The picture is becoming clearer of Francesco “Frank” Villi, the 74-year-old man police suspect of shooting and killing five people prior to being gunned down himself by a York Regional Police Sergeant Sunday, Dec. 18.

The incident, which is now being investigated by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), occurred at about 7:20 p.m. at the Bellaria Towers complex located at 9235 Jane Street, just north of Rutherford Road, in Vaughan.

A sixth victim was also shot and taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

John Di Nino, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Canada (ATU), said he would not comment, after his wife Doreen Di Nino, 66 was shot and injured before entering surgery.

"I have been asked to provide comments after the terrible events yesterday in Vaughan," the statement reads. "This is obviously a very difficult time for my family, and I would ask that our privacy be respected."

In all, police said the victims include three males and two females, explaining that three out of the five were on the condominium's board.

Residents say the incident occurred in Tower 2, the building closest to Jane Street, which on Monday morning was blocked with police tape and a number of York Regional Police vehicles.

Outside the condo a neighbour spoke to yorkregion.com about the troubles she’s been facing with Villi since he moved in about five years ago.

Clutching her small white dog, she spoke while clearly traumatized about the incident that occurred just hours before.

Heidi Popara, Villi’s direct neighbour, said he appeared "unwell" and was "constantly threatening" Tower 2’s condo board members.

She said Villi’s behaviour became untenable more recently, prompting she and her husband to try and sell their condominium.

“He was screaming in the middle of the night, yelling, banging,” she told yorkregion.com, adding that Villi always had his front door open. “He was always talking to someone on the phone, he was talking to someone in the middle of the night, yelling in Italian.”

Popara said she complained to everyone, including condominium officials and police.

"They knocked on the door and just left," she said of police when she telephoned York Regional Police last year complaining about Villi's behaviour and the noise. She said she felt he belonged in a mental health unit, but felt that no one was listening to her.

A friend of Villi, who did not want to give his name, said Villi has a daughter and has been divorced for some time.

He said Villi and he often spoke, explaining that Villi told him he was a former home builder and engineer.

The pair spent much of their time speaking about Villi's issues with the board. Neighbours say some of the victims include spouses of board members.

“He wanted his unit repaired because it was above the electrical room, he said it was causing him to be very ill,” he said.

He explained that Villi told him that he should have had a sub floor underneath his unit and that there was not one.

In videos posted on his Facebook account, Villi details a series of unsubstantiated allegations going back several years.

He complains about his nose running, and in one video he has dangling phlegm hanging from his nose.

In another video he talks about what he thought was noise in his condominium.

“I need to rest and sleep and not to breathe poison…to sleep in a place that has no air to breathe only chemicals to breathe…contamination air to breath,” he says while filming himself with a cellphone. “Torturing noise…how can anyone rest and sleep. You can put earplugs if you want to, it will go through your body, through your soul. This is my house, I bought and paid for it. It comes from below the floor.”

Another video shows footage of what appears to be the electrical room Villi is complaining about.

There is a loud industrial fan noise while he films the room’s surroundings.

In separate video posted on Dec. 13, he contacts an articling student from a law firm and asks her if she "knows God" and calls himself a "righteous man", claiming a number of people are "murdering" him. He then calls one of the board members a "monster" and "demon".

Online there are documents from one of his legal battles with the condominium board

One section reads that Villi believes there are emissions of "electromagnetic waves'", which have caused him "significant pain and suffering".

“Mr. Villi believes that the board members of the Corporation have actively engaged in efforts to intentionally harm him, likely at the behest of the powerful developer who built the condominium,” it reads. “Mr. Villi believes that all the individuals involved have not only conspired to harm him, but have also conspired to ensure that the truth of the matter never surfaces.”

The documents also note that in Nov. 2018, the condo corporation commenced an application against Villi to restrain his "allegedly threatening, abusive, intimidating and harassing" behaviour towards the board, property management, workers and residents of the condominium.

An SIU spokeswoman said he was using a semi-automatic handgun adding that he was pronounced dead at 8 p.m..

A police source said officers climbed 15 floors before coming back down to the third floor, adding that in the end Villi was fatally shot down a hallway.

York Regional Police chief Jim MacSween said the officer involved, a 24-year veteran of the service, 'very likely saved lives' with his actions and said he's 'doing OK' in the wake of the shooting that took place on the third floor of the building.

He called the investigation 'fluid and ongoing' and explained a number of search warrants are still to be executed in the case.

MacSween said he could not confirm whether police had any interaction with Villi prior to the incident.