A man was shot with an arrow and left to die on a Kitchener lawn and police promise a “relentless” hunt for the attacker.

Waterloo Regional Police said they are treating Michael Frederick Gibbon’s death as a homicide after post-mortem results revealed he died of a “penetrating” injury to his chest which was not self-inflicted.

Gibbon, 60, died Monday in a local hospital after a pedestrian saw him lying on the front lawn of a house on Margaret Ave. in Kitchener just after 7 a.m.

“The way he died is so horrible for us because I don’t even know how long he was laying in the street or if he suffered,” his sister, Linda Leinweber of Kitchener, said.

“It’s just unbearable. He was just out for his everyday normal walk that he has every morning.”

Gibbon was found at 387 Margaret Ave. and lived about 550 metres away at 430 Guelph St., a brick house he co-owned with his sisters.

Waterloo Regional Police Chief Bryan Larkin said Wednesday officers are on a mission to find the person responsible.

“We are dedicating as many resources as we can,” Larkin said in an interview.

“We are relentless,” he said. “Our homicide investigators are tenacious.”

Larkin said officers have been canvassing the Margaret Ave. neighbourhood and area each day and combed through the woods in nearby Breithaupt Park.

On Wednesday morning, officers stopped more than 250 drivers who commute through the area daily and may have seen something out of the ordinary.

“The reality is somebody knows something. We need someone to come forward,” Larkin said.

Larkin said the public needs to be patient in homicide investigations, particularly during the first 72 hours which are critical to obtaining information.

Larkin said police have a “community safety plan” in place which involves putting more officers in the neighbourhood and in other highly visible areas with Thanksgiving weekend coming up and the launch of the annual Oktoberfest celebrations.

“We ought not to run in fear. There is safety in numbers. People should continue to come on to the streets and continue to walk their dogs,” he said.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

“We can not let fear overtake how we do business,” he said.

Larkin said there remains many unanswered questions and this is troubling for police and the community.

“As the chief of police, my appeal is to anybody that has the smallest piece of information do not feel bad, please call us,” he said.

“To the individual involved in this, we don’t know if it was accidental. We are encouraging the person who may be involved to do this to please come forward,” he said.

On Tuesday, police tape surrounded the house on Margaret Ave. and a police constable guarded the home from his cruiser. A car also guarded Gibbon’s home, where Leinweber said her brother, a single man, lived alone.

The youngest of five siblings, Gibbon was the “baby brother” in their very close-knit family, Leinweber said.

“He was wonderful, witty, intelligent, quiet, never hurt a flea. He was the joy of our life and he is going to be deeply, deeply missed.”

With family scattered across the country, Leinweber was feeling overwhelmed.

“We have had a lot of tragedies in our family over the years so we just have to kind of gather around, circle around each other, there are not many of us left here now.”

On Monday, police advised schools in the vicinity to keep students inside. The “hold and secure” affected 11 schools and was lifted by the early afternoon.

Leinweber said the family has not made funeral arrangements yet but when they do, it will be “very small and very private.”

Anyone with information should call Waterloo Regional Police at 519-650-8500, ext. 8666, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.