TORONTO — Rosalina Hutchinson remembers how anxious she’d get when encountering a fellow resident who routinely harassed her and others at her former Toronto-area condominium.
Hutchinson, who served on the condo board at the time, said she and others tried to help the man with his complaints about his unit but he routinely used offensive language on them and even made verbal threats.
The man, 73-year-old Francesco Villi, killed five people – three condo board members and two of their spouses – at the highrise before he was shot dead by police on Sunday.
“We did everything for this gentleman, to the point that the (condo board) spent thousands and thousands of dollars … but he was a walking time bomb,” Hutchinson told The Canadian Press in an interview.
Court documents indicate Villi had a dispute with his condo board that went on for years. He claimed there were issues with the electrical room below his unit that were affecting his health – a judge rejected those claims, saying there was no evidence anything was wrong with the unit.
Villi also claimed members of the condo board had a conspiracy to “systematically murder” him, court documents have shown, and posted videos of board members and building staff to his social media accounts.
Documents show Villi was expected in court the day after the shooting. The condo board had sought to have the court force Villi to sell and vacate his unit as a penalty for being in contempt of an order to not contact the board, to stop threatening its members and building staff and to cease posting about them on social media.
Hutchinson, who moved out of the building four years ago, said Villi would call her disgusting and demand she leave the Vaughan, Ont., condominium. She also said he’d sometimes walk around with signs that read “this is a bad place” and “I’m going to kill people.”
“I was always afraid for my life not knowing what this individual would have been capable of,” she said. “He would scare people in the lobby and I know police was called many times.”
Hutchinson said the board made many efforts to address Villi’s complaints.
The electrical room below his unit was insulated three times, the walls were searched for mould and the air quality was tested, she said. A board member even spent a night in Villi’s unit at one point to thoroughly investigate his claims, she said.
“There was nothing wrong with this unit. Contractors came in, drywall was broken to make sure there was no infestation,” she said. “I want people to know that the board was genuine.”
Hutchinson it was clear Villi needed help.
“My niece, who was the property manager, was afraid of him and that was one of the reasons why she left the building,” Hutchinson said. “She spoke to one of (Villi’s) daughters and they said they’ve tried everything and he denied help.”
Villi’s three daughters have said in a written statement that the 73-year-old was a “controlling and abusive husband and father” who was estranged from his children.
Villi, who used a semi-automatic handgun, killed Rita Camilleri, her husband Vittorio Panza, Russell Manock, his wife Lorraine Manock, and Naveed Dada, before being shot dead by police.
Anita Szigeti, a Toronto-based mental health law specialist, said there’s always a desire to look back when a tragedy happens and search for a potential solution that could have prevented it. But, she said, it’s never that simple.
It’s almost impossible to predict whether an individual will commit violent acts, she said, though often people see what appear to be warning signs in hindsight.
Hutchinson said she wishes the community had more resources to help prevent the tragedy.
“When you’re on a board, there’s only so much we can do and I can honestly tell you we did everything for Mr. Villi,” she said. “It seems like there’s a problem in the system itself. We need more resources.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 23, 2022.
