

Sandie Benitah, Chris Herhalt and Joshua Freeman, CP24.com





Police have confirmed there is a link between a suspicious package found in a Harbourfront condo and the death of three people in Scarborough Village Thursday.

Two men and a woman were killed and a fourth person was sent to hospital with serious injuries after someone discharged a crossbow near the corner of Lawndale and Argo roads, northwest of Kingston and Markham roads, shortly before 1 p.m.

The person who called 911 is one of the deceased, an officer on the scene said.

Toronto police Det.-Sgt. Mike Carbone confirmed to reporters at the scene that all three victims are adults and that one person is in police custody. However, he refused to give additional details on the victims and their relationship with one another.

“With this being a four-hour-long investigation, I still have ways to go in determining what happened,” he said. “We are very early into the investigation and we have a lot of work to do.”

Suspicious package

He did however confirm a connection between the deaths and a suspicious package reportedly found inside an upper-level apartment at 218 Queen’s Quay, near Lower Simcoe Street.

The building was evacuated and traffic was rerouted as police tried to determine if the package posed a threat.

Hours later, Supt. Bill Neadles told CP24 at the scene that the public is no longer at risk.

He refused to say more about the type of package that was found and what it contained.

The apartment has been sealed until police can return with a search warrant to investigate the premises as part of the homicide case.

Neighbour heard screams

Homicide detectives are leading the investigation and have set up a large perimeter around the neighbourhood where the three people were found dead. Reports from the scene indicate that three homes are being examined as part of the investigation. A large amount of police activity appears to focus on the garage of one of the homes.

One neighbor at the scene said that he heard screaming before the bodies were discovered.

“I didn’t hear any words, but they were just screaming in pain or (because) he’s sort of aggressive or something like that,” Jerome Cruz said. “Then I heard another middle-aged man coming toward that screaming person and telling him to be calm, be quiet, things like that. Then I saw a lady coming out of the house running towards them.”

Other neighbours at the scene told CP24 that they never imagined something like this could happen in their community.

“I was pretty shocked. I’ve lived around here for years and you don’t hear stuff like this,” another man said. He called the incident “scary” and “sad.”

In the meantime, police are asking anyone with information to come forward.