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'Our world changed forever:' Husband of surviving victim of Vaughan condo shooting speaks out

The husband of one of the victims who survived a mass shooting that killed five people at a Vaughan condo shooting says their lives have been forever changed since that night.

Toronto.citynews.ca
March 23, 2023
Dorsa Rahbar, Gianpietro Nagliatii

It’s been over three months since a mass shooting at a Vaughan condominium rocked the community.

On December 18, 73-year-old gunman, Francesco Villi, opened fire on members of the condo board at Bellaria Residences.

Villi killed five people before being shot by a York Regional Police officer. The victims were identified as Rita Camilleri, 57, Vittorio Panza, 79, Russell Manock, 75, Lorraine Manock, 71 and Naveed Dada, 59.

The sixth victim, Doreen DiNino, suffered life-threatening injuries. Her husband, John DiNino, said the tragedy will be part of their lives forever.

“It was a typical Sunday evening and within seconds, our lives and our worlds changed forever as we know it,” DiNino said.

DiNino, who is the president of the condo board, said his wife is still recovering from her injuries.

“When people ask, ‘Is your wife expected to make a full recovery?’ We wish we knew what a full recovery meant, because we don’t. Every day is a challenge, every day gets better, some days you go backwards,” he said.

DiNino and condo residents will be meeting with Vaughan city officials on March 30. He said more needs to be done moving forward to support the community.

“We cannot change where we are in terms of the past, but in terms of support for mental health issues and victims who deal with trauma, we can only try to make things better. I’m working very closely with Vaughan city hall to see if we can make some of those changes.”

Though, DiNino says the meeting is just a first step towards rebuilding a community that was shaken by the tragedy.

“We’re lucky that my wife didn’t succumb to her injuries and have the same outcome as some of our friends did. But recovery is going to take a really long time.”

A variety of documents obtained by CityNews suggested Villi had an ongoing dispute with the condo board prior to the shooting and according to an Ontario court docket, Villi was due to appear in a courtroom the day after the shooting.

His battle with the board seemed to stem from a dispute about an electrical room in the building, below his unit. A lawyer’s letter stated that Villi “suffers daily from the excessive noises, odours, vibrations, and/or heat emanating” from the electrical room. He first complained about it in 2017 in an email to property management.

Three of the people were killed were condo board members.

You can watch a broadcast clip of this new story here: https://toronto.citynews.ca/2023/03/22/husband-surviving-victim-vaughan-condo-shooting/