Witnesses to Vaughan shooting struggle to recover

LeDevoir.com
Jan. 31, 2023

A month after the mass shooting in a condominium tower in Vaughan, Ontario, some witnesses are struggling to recover and hope for more support.

On the evening of December 18, a 73-year-old man murdered five residents of the tower in which he lived in the suburbs of Toronto before being shot by the police. Since then, residents of 9235 Jane Street have been marching daily through the halls that Francesco Villi walked to kill Rita Camilleri, Vittorio Panza, Russell Manock, Helen Manock and Naveed Dada. Some of the victims were members of the board of directors, which the septuagenarian accused of having covered up construction irregularities in the tower.

"We're not all better yet," says Jack Rozdilsky, a resident of the building, about his neighbors. "If the killing had taken place in another place, maybe I wouldn't need to go back there every day, but you can't not go home," says the resident. “It is for this reason that it will take time to overcome the trauma that we have experienced”, continues the one who is also a professor at York University.

A meeting organized by the City of Vaughan and the Peel Regional Police will take place on February 16, which is welcomed by residents, but Jack Rozdilsky says the level of support needed for the community exceeds the services available to them.

Vaughan Mayor Steven Del Duca is aware of the needs of residents. “Some members of the community feel that they have had their questions answered and the support they need, but others think that more needs to be done,” summarizes the former leader of the Ontario Liberal Party. "Additional help will be provided," he said.

A better informed expert
Jack Rozdilsky is doubly well placed to understand how authorities respond to killings: this is one of his areas of research at York University. But the professor himself had never been implicated in one of these attacks. This experience has allowed him to better understand where interventions can be improved. “In Canada, we can do better than what we have done here,” he says, while being careful to mention that he does not blame anyone in particular. In the United States, he notes, victim support centers are sometimes open less than twelve hours after such a disaster.

Physically I am not injured, but psychologically I have injuries that I need to deal with due to my exposure at the crime scene. [...] The grieving process will be lasting for those who were related to a victim. For those who have been exposed, it will be a long time to overcome the trauma.

But the help given to the victims of December 18 was not immediate, notes Jack Rozdilsky. Victim Services of York Region -- which includes several municipalities, including Vaughan -- has so far held three meetings with the co-owners. The first took place on December 29, eleven days after the killings; two others took place during the week of January 9. "What Victim Services did was really necessary, and they helped us a lot," said the professor, however.

For his part, Steven Del Duca does not think that the response from the authorities was lacking, but explains that it was complex. “In Vaughan, and probably in most Ontario municipalities, emergency management plans focus on natural disasters. That does not mean that we are not preparing for deadly attacks, but it is a question of proportion, ”said the mayor. “Our police and victim services are regional, not local,” he continues.

A mourning that begins
"Physically, I'm not hurt, but psychologically, I have injuries that I have to deal with because of my exposure to the scene of the crime," says Jack Rozdilsky. The majority of the residents were exposed in one way or another to the killing. Some have directly witnessed the act of the septuagenarian; others, like the professor, have seen the crime scene. “The grieving process will be long-lasting for those who were related to a victim. For those who have been exposed, it will be a long time before they overcome the trauma,” he says.

On January 22, Jack Rozdilsky turned on the television to find that 11 people had been shot by a septuagenarian in California. “I couldn't help reliving what had happened to me,” he says. Despite everything, the professor does not think of leaving his building. “The mass killing took place in the building where I live. What tells me it can't happen in another building? he asks himself. “I think I still live somewhere safe,” he says.