A posh Italian restaurant in Toronto that has twice before been the target of violence suffered an apparent pepper spray attack on Friday that sent two people to hospital.
This most recent assault on Coco Lezzone, which is now in the city's wealthy Yorkville neighbourhood, comes 15 years after a gunman walked into the restaurant and shot the owner, Steven Salari, in the back, and 13 years since a bomber blew up the front window. (Mr. Salari survived.)
At least two people were taken to hospital by ambulance with injuries to their eyes, said a Toronto EMS official.
Emergency crews received a call just before 9 p.m. that a "pepper spray can was thrown" in a restaurant. Between 10 and 20 people were inside at the time.
Detective Rob Trubecki called it a "very unusual occurrence." He declined to comment on whether police have any theories about what could have led to the attack, adding investigators are still doing interviews with possible witnesses and staff.
One Coco Lezzone patron who was in the restaurant at the time said it was like being in a movie.
"I was sitting at the bar ... it was the third inning of the Blue Jays," he said in an interview. He didn't see the assailant, but he heard a man shout an expletive at "Steve" and then the room began to fill with smoke. "It was mayhem ... it looked like something you'd see on TV."
The man, who refused to give his name but whose detailed account was consistent with information provided to Det. Trubecki – including the comment about "Steve" – said he saw a grey cylinder hit the floor as the room became cloudy.
"When it first happened, it took your breath away," he said. "I started gasping for air."
Diners stumbled to the exits, choking on the smoke. Outside, he said, people were vomiting and trying to clean their eyes.
The man said he never got a look at who unleashed the substance, which Det. Trubecki noted may have been bear spray. The investigator rejected suggestions that it was some sort of a tear gas bomb.
Coco Lezzone was open on Sunday. Reached by phone, a man who identified himself as the manager and said his first name was "Tony" said of the Friday attack: "Nothing happened. It was a normal evening. False information. It wasn't even busy ... it was fine here. It was – nothing happened."
Mr. Salari, who appears to still be involved with Coco Lezzone, could not be reached for comment.
He was shot in the lower back in his restaurant on April 29, 2000. At the time, Coco Lezzone was still located in Toronto's Little Italy, at College and Clinton Streets.
The shooter, Salvatore Bellissimo, a convicted drug dealer, was found guilty of aggravated assault and weapons charges. Court heard he was upset after being told to leave the eatery. Mr. Bellissimo, who operated the nearby Dolce Vita restaurant, came back with a 40-calibre semi-automatic handgun and opened fire in the restaurant.
Two years later, on Dec. 2, 2002, at about 4 a.m., an unknown assailant detonated a bomb near the front window. The blast resonated throughout the neighbourhood, but except for the front window, Coco Lezzone was largely spared thanks to a large pillar.
In 2014, the restaurant moved to its new location at 137 Avenue Rd., south of Davenport Road.
Robyn Doolittle