Residents of Vaughan condo describe gunman as disruptive with behavioural issues

Residents reeling from a mass shooting inside a Vaughan condominium say they are saddened but not surprised after the 73-year-old gunman was identified, saying he was disruptive and needed professional help.

York Regional Police said Francesco Villi killed three condo board members and two others at a Vaughan highrise on Sunday night while a sixth shooting victim — the wife of a board member — remained in hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Villi shot the victims in three different units in the building before an officer shot and killed him, police said.

Court documents involving a man with the same name, who lived at the building where the shooting occurred, indicate a protracted dispute with the condo board.

Residents tell CityNews that they had expressed their concerns about Villi’s behaviour on multiple occasions, citing his temperamental personality and aggressiveness towards other people in the building.

One woman whose mother lives in the Vaughan condo described the scene on Sunday night.

“Officers with drawn guns were yelling [at us], ‘shut your door, stay inside, lock your door, and don’t move.’ So we did,” Lisa Chang said in an interview.

RELATED: Documents detail Vaughan shooter’s conflict with condo board

Chang said she was visiting her mom last night when the shooting happened. She said her mother was close friends with several victims, many of whom helped plan a birthday party for Chang’s mother last month. Her daughter says her mother is in extreme shock.

“My sister and I don’t live close by, so we felt comfortable that she had people she could rely on,” Chang said.

“Many residents here, including my mom, are seniors. They live by themselves. That community is what they lean on and rely on. It’s almost as though she lost family members today.”

Francesco Villi is shown in this image taken from a recent video posted on his personal Facebook page on Dec. 19, 2022. A Facebook page for a man named Francesco Villi had a video posted online hours before the Sunday shooting. In it, a man identifies himself, lists the address of the building where the shooting took place and says that he is a resident of the condo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO – Facebook, Francesco Villi.

John Santoro, another condo resident and former member of the building’s board of directors. He says that the horrific events could have been avoided, noting that Villi had been in a lengthy dispute with the board, followed by years of lawsuits.

“I tried to guide him in the court process, but unfortunately, he was his own victim,” Santoro said.

“I told my wife many times this was going to end very badly because I was also aware that the alleged shooter had a firearms acquisition certificate.”

John Di Nino, President of the Amalgamated Transit Unit (ATU), also sits on the condo board. Di Nino’s wife was one of the people shot during Sunday’s attack but survived. In a statement, Di Nino said it was a very difficult time for him and his family and was asking for privacy.

Santoro, meanwhile, says he feels like his life was spared.

“I don’t know if I got lucky or if he didn’t include me in his plans,” Santoro said.

Villi was set to return to court Monday as the board sought to have a judge find him in contempt for violating a previous order not to contact the board, to stop threatening its members and building staff, and cease posting about them on social media.

Police said Monday that the motive for the shooting was part of their “very complicated and very fluid investigation.”

With files from The Canadian Press