Scarborough stabbing marks Toronto’s first homicide of 2019.

Man, 36, was visiting friends in Scarborough apartment when he was stabbed to death

Police have identified Toronto’s first homicide victim of the year after a fatal stabbing in a Scarborough apartment building overnight Sunday.

Ian Dyer, 36, of Toronto, had been spending time with friends in the building when he was stabbed to death, police said. Paramedics were unable to resuscitate him and he died at the scene.

This incident comes after a recordbreaking year in the city, with 96 homicide victims in 2018 — surpassing the previous record of 89 set in 1991.

Police received a call at12:24 a.m. about a man who had been stabbed on the 12th floor of a building on Gordonridge Pl., near Danforth Rd. and Midland Ave.

Afriend of Dyer’s found him and called 911, police said. When officers and paramedics arrived, they found Dyer inside an apartment unit with no vital signs and a life-threatening stab wound to his upper body, Toronto police homicide Det. Paul Worden told reporters Sunday.

Worden said Dyer was known to police, but wasn’t involved in anything criminal at the time of his death. Dyer was not a resident of the building, but he had been staying there for the last few days with friends, he said.

“He wasn’t doing anything of a criminal nature at the time he was killed. He was in the apartment with friends, and everything was fine, according to the people who were last with him,” Worden said, adding police have spoken to a tenant of the unit and he is not considered a suspect.

Police believe Dyer’s friends had already left the unit when the stabbing took place, Worden said.

As the building is registered under Toronto Community Housing, TCH representatives were on scene to assist police with viewing the security footage, the officer said.

After reviewing footage and speaking to witnesses, detectives believe the stabbing took place between 11:30 p.m. and midnight on Saturday, Worden said. Police are asking anyone in the building during that time who might have heard a commotion or who saw something suspicious to contact them immediately.

Mayor John Tory said the city is enlisting additional resources to ensure safer streets in 2019.

“Every single homicide — and you hope there would be zero — but every single one is a tragic event,” he told reporters Sunday. “But I can just say that we’re taking the steps we said we’re going to take.”

He noted the city hired 200 more officers at the end of the year and is

continuing to hire more. Additional investments in policing are being looked into as well, he said.

The city also recently gave TCH the go-ahead to hire more than 100 “special constables,” Tory said.

They will be deployed to TCH buildings with the most violent histories.

“I’m absolutely determined that we’re going to do better in 2019,” he said.

The unit where Sunday’s stabbing took place has now been sealed off by police, and it bears a white poster that says “do not knock on my door tearing off this note doesn’t change a thing” in green marker.

A neighbour who asked not to be identified said she heard banging between 11:20 p.m. and 12:10 a.m.

“That’s just a normal night around here,” she told the Star.

Another neighbour who has lived in the building for 30 years said he saw police and paramedics arrive at about 1 a.m. He said he was not surprised to hear of the incident in what he says has become an increasingly violent building.

“(Toronto) housing buildings have become a refuge for criminals, drug dealers and prostitutes,” he told the Star.

The man said the problems grew when TCH removed 24hour security at the building more than a decade ago. Two years ago, he said, he wrote to the housing corporation to complain about the issues on his floor, but he has seen no significant improvement since.

“I can’t get no sleep at night,” he said.

Questioned by reporters on Sunday, who asked when residents can expect to see change in TCH buildings, Tory said that “help is on the way.”

“The special constables are in this year’s budget. They have been approved for hiring. So they will be deployed as soon as possible in the coming months,” he said.

Police can’t say whether the victim and suspects knew one another, but Worden said they aren’t ruling that out.

No information on possible suspects has been released, as police are still reviewing security footage. The number of suspects is not known, Worden said, adding a weapon has yet to be found.

Police are trying to piece together the last days and moments of Dyer’s life, and are asking anyone who’s had contact with him in the last few days or has information on his past whereabouts to call police.

Alarge German shepherd that lived in the unit where the stabbing took place was later found wandering on lower floors, Worden said.

Police have been receiving information linking the building to criminal activity, he said — in particular, the 12th floor where Dyer was killed.

“Primarily drugs, the information we’re getting is that the building and that particular floor had a heavy drug activity.”

It’s not the first violent crime to take place in the building. Last April, a man in his 30s was stabbed to death.

Worden said he is also aware of the building’s history.

“It’s my understanding that the building has had a troubled past. Unfortunately, violence is not uncommon there,” he said.

“There’s a lot of good people in the building and they’re being taken advantage of. And they feel like they can’t live full lives, because they’re scared to move around the building freely.”