Shooter’s family ‘devastated’
Faisal Hussain had “severe mental health challenges,” family says,
The man who unleashed bullets on a busy Danforth stretch Sunday night was suffering from “severe mental health challenges” and struggling with psychosis and depression, his devastated family said Monday.
Just after 10 p.m. Sunday, a lone gunman dressed in dark clothing and a black baseball cap fired upon groups of people as they were enjoying a warm summer night out in Toronto’s Greektown neighbourhood — killing a 10year-old girl and an18-year-old woman, and injuring 13 others.
The gunman, identified Monday as Faisal Hussain, 29, then died of a self- inflicted gunshot wound, according to police sources.
“We are at a terrible loss for words but we must speak out to express our deepest condolences to the families who are now suffering on account of our son’s horrific actions,” Hussain’s family wrote in a statement Monday.
“We are utterly devastated by the incomprehensible news that our son was responsible for the senseless violence and loss of life that took place on the Danforth.”
Twin investigations are now underway to determine key details in a shooting that has left the city grieving, shocking the residents in the vibrant Greektown neighbourhood where police descended Monday to collect evidence and photograph bullet casings.
Chief among the questions now is what motivated the gunman.
It’s also unclear how he got a hold of a handgun — particularly in light of his family’s claims he suffered from psychosis.
The family’s statement said the interventions of professionals were unsuccessful in helping him, and medications and therapy “were unable to treat him.”
“While we did our best to seek help for him throughout his life of struggle and pain, we could never imagine that this would be his devastating and destructive end,” the statement read.
Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders said at a news conference at police headquarters that the investigation was “very fluid, it is very new.”
“We do not know why this has happened yet,” he said. “It’s going to take some time.”
While Toronto police are probing the actions of the shooter, Ontario’s police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), is examining Hussain’s death. Officials with the SIU confirmed Hussain died following an exchange of gunfire with two Toronto police officers on Bowden St.
He then fled the area, but was found dead on Danforth Ave.
While the SIU has not provided any details, police sources tell the Star Hussain died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The two officers involved in the shootout were “visibly shaken” by the encounter, said Toronto Police Association president Mike McCormack. The alleyway where the exchange of gunfire took place remained cordoned off by yellow tape Monday, a police cruiser towed from the scene earlier in the day leaving broken glass in its wake.
Police are now digging into the suspected shooter’s background, and have gotten a warrant to search a unit in a residence on Thorncliffe Park Dr. On Monday evening, two Toronto police officers sat outside the door to a mid-level apartment unit, while a security guard watched the front entrance.
Prior to Sunday’s shooting, the Hussain family had already suffered tragedy, residents of the building said.
Khalid Malik said Hussain had a sister who died several years ago in an accident, and has a brother who has been in a coma in hospital for the last year.
Mirza Baig, a long-time resident of the building, said Hussain’s father was also sick and possibly suffering from Parkinson’s.
Malik described Hussain as a quiet man he would sometimes run into on the street. The two would shake hands and Hussain would give him a cigarette but never said much.
“Unbelievable,” Malik kept repeating Monday evening, speaking to reporters.
Of the 15 victims shot in the rampage, eight were female. The surviving thirteen victims range in age from 17 to 59 years old, and remain in hospital with injuries ranging from minor to critical.
In a news release Monday evening, Toronto police identified the killed woman as Reese Fallon, 18, who lived in Toronto’s Beach neighbourhood.
A spokesperson for the devastated family said the family had requested privacy, adding he personally knew her to be as caring and “whip smart.”
Neither police nor the SIU would speculate on a motive for the shooting. “He received a gunshot wound, but I’m not going to expand on that,” Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders said at the Monday news conference.
Police have not said whether he died of self-inflicted gunshots or from the gunfire with police.
After Hussain was identified, the National Council of Canadian Muslims released a statement condemning the shooting attack.
“Like all Canadians, we grieve the loss of our fellow community members and our thoughts and prayers are with the survivors, the families and friends of the victims, and all Torontonians during this absolutely heartbreaking time,” NCCM Executive Director Ihsaan Gardee said in the statement.
Mayor John Tory, who headed to the shooting scene Sunday night, offered his condolences to families of the victims and urged residents not to jump to conclusions about what transpired and why.
In a statement, Tory called the shooting a “despicable act.”
“On behalf of all Toronto residents, I am outraged that someone has unleashed such a terrible attack on our city and people innocently enjoying a Sunday evening,” Tory said.
“... While our city will always be resilient in the face of such attacks, it does not mean such a cowardly act committed against our residents is any less painful — this is an attack against innocent families and our entire city.”