Toronto real estate broker identified as victim of restaurant shooting

A brazen shooting in a downtown restaurant has claimed the life of a 54-year-old Toronto man.

Toronto police say Simon Giannini was dining at Michael’s steakhouse restaurant on Simcoe Street when a gunman came in around 9 p.m. and shot him multiple times.

Paramedics arrived to find the victim absent vital signs. They attempted to revive him at the scene before he was transported to a nearby trauma centre, where he succumbed to his injuries.

Giannini worked as an agent with Royal Lepage. In an email to CityNews, a company spokesperson expressed their “deepest sympathies to Simon’s friends, colleagues and loved ones.”

Police say they are looking for a lone suspect, who fled the scene in a white SUV heading westbound along Pearl Street. He’s described as male wearing a grey or dark hooded top, jogging pants and was armed with a handgun.

Det. Shannon Dawson said Sunday morning the shooting appears to have been targeted but had no reason for a motive at this time. She added there was nothing to indicate that the shooting was linked to organized crime.

Police are asking anyone who may have been at the restaurant and did not have a chance to speak to police to contact them.

“I’m sure it was very frightening for the customers at the restaurant and that’s why we think many of them may have fled very quickly and perhaps those people haven’t had a chance to speak to us,” said Dawson.

The restaurant was the scene of a targeted shooting almost two years ago when a man and a woman were shot by two masked men.