Condo Shooting Happened Night Before Eviction Hearing

A suburban Toronto man who was killed by police after authorities say he fatally shot five people in his condominium building, including three members of the condo board, had a court hearing scheduled for the next day to determine if the building's management could evict him. Francesco Villi, 73, attacked neighbors on three floors of his building on Sunday night, killing three men and two women and wounding a sixth person, a 66-year-old woman who is expected to survive, according to police. One of the officers who responded to a call about an active shooter inside the building in the suburb of Vaughan shot and killed Villi, authorities said.

The attack happened the day before a scheduled online court hearing in which lawyers for the condominium corporation were set to argue that it should be allowed to evict Villi because he had spent years harassing building employees, board members, and other neighbors, the AP reports. In court documents, the building's lawyers said Villi ignored court orders to end the harassment and stop posting online about a longstanding dispute he had with the condo's management. Villi long claimed in videos posted on social media and in court documents that vibrations, noises, and emissions from the building’s electrical room under his unit were making him sick, and that board members and the building’s developer were to blame.

According to court documents, at least two condominium managers quit because of him, and security guards quit or changed shifts to avoid him. Residents also said Villi would swear at them and film them. "The Condominium submits that a penalty directing Villi to sell and vacate his unit within 90 days of the resolution of this matter is the only meaningful punishment that will serve the dual purposes of a finding of contempt," lawyers for the building wrote to the court. "While this is an extreme penalty, the Condominium submits that it is proportional to Villi’s offence. He has proven himself to be ungovernable." In rambling videos he posted on Facebook in the hours and days leading up the attack, Villi talked about the legal dispute. (More Toronto stories.)