Three estranged daughters of a 73-year-old man who fatally shot five people in his condominium community near Toronto said Wednesday that he “was a controlling and abusive husband and father.”
The daughters of Francesco Villi said in a statement released by Ontario's Special Investigations Unit that they are deeply heartbroken for the victims' families and offered their condolences.
“Francesco Villi was a controlling and abusive husband and father. He has a history of domestic abuse with both the mothers of his children and his daughters. He had aggressive behavior and a Jekyll and Hyde type personality,” they wrote.
Villi attacked neighbors on three floors of his building in Vaughan, Ontario, on Sunday, killing three men and two women and wounding a sixth person, a 66-year-old woman who is expected to survive, according to police. One of the officers who responded to a call about an active shooter inside the building shot and killed Villi, authorities said.
York Regional Police identified the slain victims as Rita Camilleri, 57; Vittorio Panza, 79; Russell Manock, 75, his 71-year-old wife Lorraine Manock and Naveed Dada, 59. Three of them were condo board directors.
Villi long claimed in videos posted on social media and in court documents that vibrations, noises and emissions from the building’s electrical room under his unit were making him sick, and that board members and the building’s developer were to blame.
“We are in absolute shock and utter devastation at the events that have transpired," Villi's children said in their statement.
The children, who didn't provide their names, said they have been estranged from him for more than five years.
“His children tried to have some form of a relationship through the years and many offers of help were continuously denied, leaving them no choice but to cut off ties with him for their own health and wellbeing,” they wrote.
The attack happened the day before a scheduled online court hearing in which lawyers for the condominium corporation were set to argue that it should be allowed to evict Villi because he had spent years harassing building employees, board members and other neighbors.
According to court documents, at least two condominium managers quit because of him, and security guards quit or changed shifts to avoid him. Residents also said Villi would swear at them and film them.
