Realtor shot dead in Toronto steakhouse
• A man wearing a hoodie pulled tightly around his face walked into a high-end downtown restaurant Saturday night, pulled out a handgun, and shot dead one of the city’s best-known real estate brokers.
Det. Shannon Dawson said the gunman shot Simon Giannini, 54, multiple times. He was taken to hospital and pronounced dead.
Dawson said the killing appears to have been “targeted,” but she admitted it’s not yet known why someone would want Giannini dead.
“I’m sure it was very frightening for the customers who were at the restaurant,” Dawson said.
“And that’s why we think many of them may have fled very quickly.”
Giannini was known for his book, Everything You Wanted To Know About Real Estate But Were Afraid To Ask, and a weekly Toronto radio show offering real estate advice.
He was one of the city’s top real estate salesmen, working for Royal LePage Select.
He had also recently coauthored The Real Estate Retirement Plan, which advises those with lots of equity in their homes to use it to invest in real estate.
It’s not the first time blood has been spilled inside Michael’s.
On Sept. 20, 2015, two gunmen opened fire on a couple sitting at a table enjoying their dinner. The man was shot in the neck, and the woman was hit in her hip, but both survived.
Restaurant owner Michael Dabic told CP24 News that he was shocked that another shooting occurred inside his restaurant, on Simcoe Street in the city’s financial district.
He told the TV station that his daughter was among the approximately 150 people inside the restaurant at the time.
Michael’s website features a gallery of Hollywood stars who have visited, including Will Smith, Julianne Moore, Morgan Freeman, Diane Keaton, Colin Firth and Hugh Jackman.
Its main course beef menu ranges from a six-ounce Ontario Black Angus steak for $36, to two 16-ounce Japanese Kobe beef offerings, at $768 each.
Dawson said there is nothing to suggest the two restaurant shootings are connected.
Giannini’s killing is the 41st this year in Toronto — and the 10th in the last month.