Daughters Say Condo Gunman Was Controlling, Abusive

5 victims of Toronto-area shooting identified as board members, partners
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 21, 2022 1:52 PM CST
Daughters Say Condo Gunman Was Controlling, Abusive
Residents leave flowers outside a condominium building the day after a shooting in Vaughan, Ontario, on Monday Dec, 19, 2022.   (Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press via AP)

The three daughters of the gunman who killed five people in a Toronto-area condo building Sunday night say they cut their ties with him years ago and they "are in absolute shock and utter devastation at the events that have transpired." In a statement to the Toronto Star, they say 73-year-old Francisco Villi was a "controlling and abusive husband and father" and that there had been "a history of domestic abuse with both his children and their mothers.

The daughters said they tried to have a relationship with their father despite his "aggressive behavior" and "Jekyll-and-Hyde type personality," but their offers of help were always rejected and they felt they had "no choice but to cut off ties with him for their own health and well-being." "Words cannot begin to express how deeply heartbroken we are for the families affected by this horrific tragedy," they said. Villi, who was killed by police, had feuded with the board of the Bellaria Residences condo complex in Vaughan for years, claiming he was being sickened by "electromagnetic waves" from the power room below his unit.

The five people he killed were all board members and their partners. The victims, who were shot in three separate units, have been identified as board member Russell Manock, 75, and his wife Helen, 71; board member Rita Camilleri, 57, and her partner Vittorio Panza, 79; and board member Naveed Dada, 59, per the BBC. Doreen Di Nino, the 66-year-old wife of board president John Di Nino, was also shot but is expected to survive. (Villi, who was accused of harassing building employees and neighbors for years, had been due to appear at an eviction hearing Monday.)

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