Seeking answers from tragedy

Perplexing and troubling, the murders in Toronto and Vaughan may well have been prevented, lessons that hopefully the investigations will provide.

Thetsar.com
Dec. 23, 2022

Eight girls, ages 13 to 16, charged with the murder of a man in Toronto. In Vaughan, a 73-year-old man nursing a bitter grudge goes on a shooting rampage in his condo building, killing five before he is shot and killed by police.

What connects the crimes is our collective sense of shock and incomprehension -- the allegations against the girls in particular.

In the case of the Toronto attack, police say the girls, living across the city, had connected over social media. “We don’t how or why they met on that evening,” Det. Sgt. Terry Browne, of the Toronto Police Service, told reporters.

The victim -- not yet named as police seek out his next of kin -- was a 59-year-old man who had been living in shelters after recently falling on some “hard luck,” Browne said. He was attacked in what Browne described as a “swarming” type incident and suffered a stab wound.

What was the motive? Robbery? To what end? Living in shelters and out on the street, he was in a vulnerable circumstance, a reality endured by an increasing number of individuals who lack safe housing in this city. They are at the mercy of the weather and more likely to be the victim of a crime.

Three of the girls are 13 years old, three are 14 and two are 16. All charged with second degree murder. That is a difficult fact to digest. They’ll spend Christmas behind bars, awaiting their next court appearance.

The murders in Vaughan were not random and, tragically, not entirely unpredictable. Francesco Villi had been at war with members of his condo board for years, to the point where they had restraining orders against him. Even his family described him as controlling and abusive.

The victims were identified as three members of the condo board at Bellaria Residences and two of their family members.

It’s yet another tragic story of an abusive man who can’t seem to be stopped. There are questions that the families of the victims and the broader community need answered.

Villi defied all attempts to halt his aggressive and menacing harassment of board members and condo staff that stretched over years. A hearing had been scheduled for Monday with a demand that he be forced to sell his condo and move out. Could the courts have acted more speedily or more forcefully in response to the mountain of serious complaints?

Was Villi’s semi-automatic handgun legally obtained? If so, when and why did his lengthy legal battle -- which left a paper trail about his erratic and disturbing behaviour -- not raise red flags?

A former board member observed that Villi needed help. But was help available? Like attacks on the transit system, it raises the question about the availability of mental health assistance.

Jack Rozdilsky studies mass shooting as part of his work as associate professor of disaster and emergency management at York University. He lives in the condo building and captured the sense of disbelief of having a tragedy unfold on his doorstep.

“In the days after being exposed to a mass shooting, it is difficult to pin down my thoughts while living in the environment of a mass shooting crime scene,” he wrote in a piece for the Conversation.

As we emerged from the pandemic restrictions this year, we yearned for the return of normal -- to travel, to dine out, to meet friends. Yet that normal has been challenged by events that challenge our sense of safety and security.

In the span of just over month, three police officers -- one from Toronto and two from the South Simcoe Police -- were killed on the job. Earlier this month, Vanessa Kurpiewska died after being stabbed on the subway and another subway rider injured. In another incident, a subway rider was pushed from a platform.

We know life events can be random, tragedies are despairingly so, in heart-rending fashion. We witness deadly natural disasters such as floods, wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes.

These two tragedies though were the work of individuals. Perplexing and troubling, they may well have been prevented, lessons that hopefully the investigations will provide.