Toronto police have one suspect in custody after a triple homicide in Etobicoke Monday, July 15, 2013.John Hanley/The Globe and Mail
Toronto police have a 22-year old suspect in custody after a triple homicide Monday night.
On Monday, July 15, 2013, at approximately 6:50 p.m., police were called to a townhouse complex in the Burnhamthorpe Road/Dundas Street West area regarding an unknown trouble call.
Insp. Tim Crone said officers called to the townhouse quickly realized it was a triple homicide.
"When the officers arrived on the scene, they immediately confirmed this was a crime scene and we had three deceased people within the house."
Insp. Crone said a suspect was found in a nearby ravine armed with a knife.
"There was a brief standoff with the suspect. He was armed. We negotiated with the suspect over a short period of time and subsequently he surrendered."
The suspect is charged with three counts of second-degree murder. He is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday at 10 a.m.
The victims range in age from 49- to 76-years old. The identities of the victims and the accused, all of whom are related, will be withheld pending notification of next-of-kin.
Irma Pregelj who lives a few streets away from the complex, said she saw police take down the suspect around 7:30 p.m. Monday night.
Ms. Pregelj was visiting some friends who lived close by and when she arrived, they texted her to come to a nearby park. There, she said she saw several uniformed and plain clothes officers surrounding a young man, whom she described as being in his 20s with light skin and dark hair, wearing a blue shirt and wielding a large knife.
"He was sitting down on his knees, and I think he had a knife in his hands and he was kind of pounding the ground," she said.
Ms. Pregelj said a plain clothes officer approached the young man from behind and tackled him to the ground before several other officers joined to restrain the man.
"[It's] really scary, but I'm assuming it's probably domestic or something," she said, adding she has lived in the area for 40 years and never seen anything similar take place.
Police had the entire complex taped off as forensic teams removed bags of evidence from the scene Monday night. The police and media presence drew onlookers to the otherwise quiet residential street. One woman, who would only identify herself as the victims' neighbour, said a family lived in the home and that she had been questioned by police, but did not want to comment further out of respect for the family.
Other neighbours told the Globe and Mail that crimes are infrequent in the area.
Colourful potted flowers hung outside the home where forensic teams were working.
With reports from The Canadian Press