The man accused of fatally shooting five people at a Toronto-area condo building had a long-running history of disputes with the building's condo board.
Police identified 73-year-old Francesco Villi as the man who opened fire in the condo building Sunday, killing five and seriously injuring one more before he was fatally shot by police at the scene.
While police have yet to release a motive in the case, Villi appeared to have a series of feuds with members of the condo board over the last few years, going so far as to file a lawsuit against the board in 2019.
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Villi had been living on the first floor of the building, where the shooting took place for about 10 years, according to a report from CTV Toronto. In 2019, he was ordered by courts to no longer post any video or audio recordings of board members, employees or residents of the building, and not to post about the lawsuit on social media. He was also ordered not to communicate with condo employees except for in writing or in case of an emergency.
The condo board denied the allegations made by Villi in the lawsuit and filed a restraining order against Villi that same year, arguing he had made "allegedly threatening, abusive, intimidating and harassing behavior," the Toronto Star reported.
Villi reportedly failed to comply with the court order on multiple occasions, continuing to post a series of defamatory videos, photographs and comments about the building and the board on social media, including posts accusing the members of the board of intentionally attempting to harm him.
The suspected shooter filed another lawsuit later in 2019, claiming the board was engaged in oppressive conduct after he complained that an electrical room located underneath his unit had caused him health issues since 2010.
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That lawsuit was dismissed in 2022 by Justice Joseph Di Luca, who called it "frivolous" and an "abuse of process."
Courts later found Villi in violation of his restraining order and ordered him to pay $29,500 in 2021, though that penalty was withdrawn when he began to comply with the court order. The condo board took Villi to court again in 2022, arguing he had stopped complying with the order, and that he should be forced to move out of his unit within 30 days after he had been reported for harassing residents.
The condo board's legal counsel gave Villi a "final warning" in June 2022, giving him two days to remove social media posts related to his dispute with the board.
"Mr. Villi says the Board is trying to poison him or kill him by refusing to fix problems with the electrical room beneath his unit. These problems do not exist," condo board president John Di Nino said in an affidavit, according to CTV Toronto.
The 73-year-old was scheduled to make his next appearance in court regarding the dispute on Monday, but the court ended the proceedings as a result of his death.
