Crossbow victims were part of accused killer’s family: police

The three victims of a bloody crossbow attack at a home in Toronto’s east end last week were the mother and two brothers of the accused, police said Tuesday.

Court records name the victims as Susan, Alexander and Christopher Ryan.

Brett Ryan, 35, has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the attack that stunned an east-end neighbourhood last Thursday.

His brother Christopher, 42, was a station collector for the Toronto Transit Commission, where he had been working for 12 years.

Warren Dalton, who lives across the street from the home, said he was at home Thursday afternoon when one of Ryan’s brothers came to his door, covered in blood. Police have said that person was treated and released from hospital.

“I carried him half into the living room and he fell onto the floor and he said ‘call 911, my brother is bleeding on the driveway,’” Dalton said. “‘Make sure the police come, make sure the police come.’”

Police said they were called to a home for a report of a stabbing around 1 p.m. last Thursday.

They have since said the woman killed in the attack died from ligature strangulation, while one of the men died from a crossbow bolt stab wound to the neck and the other from a single arrowhead stab wound to the neck. They would not say whether the bolt and arrow were shot or used as handheld weapons.

The lead investigator on the case, Det. Sgt. Mike Carbone, said they were still trying to piece together a motive for the slayings and were asking for the public’s help for anyone who had contact with Ryan on Thursday morning before the killings took place.