Months of searching for Andrew Kinsman and Selim Esen concluded with the announcement Thursday that Bruce McArthur was charged with first-degree murder in the disappearance of the two men.

City councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam (Ward 27 Toronto Centre-Rosedale) called the arrest of McArthur shocking and upsetting — but also validating to the community.

Wong-Tam told the Star Thursday night that the community provided tips, got active and shared information.

“I think, from what I can tell, it’s actually largely because of the community’s contributions to the investigation, itself, that actually brought us to this arrest,” she said.

Wong-Tam said the arrest “validates the concerns of the community and especially their efforts.”

The community “started asking for more dedicated police resources to (help in) solving the (case of the) . . . individuals that had gone missing from the Village,” Wong-Tam said. “And they started to create search parties on their own.

“Nobody else did that for them.

“They did that.”

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In a statement released Thursday, Wong-Tam praised the friends, families and strangers that organized search groups, convened meetings and provided police with evidence.

Tim Chase helped search for Kinsman, and told the Star in a Facebook message Thursday that he was shocked at the news of the arrest.

He said he was sure they would find Kinsman alive and well, “even after all these months of searches.”

Toronto police have charged 66-year-old Bruce McArthur with first-degree murder in the disappearances of Selim Esen and Andrew Kinsman from the city’s gay village last year. Police say they are still looking for the bodies. (The Canadian Press)

In July 2017, Kinsman’s neighbour, Robin LeBlanc, told the Star that the number of people joining the search for Kinsman grew every day.

“It started out with just a number of us within the building,” she said. “That extended to more of his friends, that extended to his work . . . You’ve got so many people in the communities that are just shocked their friend, their colleague, is missing.”

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Kinsman’s housemate Meaghan Marian told the Star in October that her way of coping was to mobilize.

“I couldn’t stop if I wanted to,” she said.

On Thursday, she said “it’s horribly impossible to understand any of this right now, and premature to try to judge the situation. Lots of grief. Not much information.”

“Without knowing what the new evidence is, nobody can know what led to the arrest. I do know the police have been ultra appreciative, including today, of the organizing friends and family did. They’ve been super, super appreciative.

“But any of us would be irresponsible in saying that our efforts are directly tied to the particular arrest. The truth is that nobody knows. That information is just not public,” Marian said.

Wong-Tam said in the statement that the Church-Wellesley Village is a place of celebration and sanctuary for the LGBTQ2S community.

“With this progress and ongoing investigation, I am hopeful that more information will come forward in the coming days and help everyone begin to heal.”

Wong-Tam told the Star that her reaction to the arrest of McArthur was relief, “simply because I know that this has been a worry for the community for some time; it’s certainly a worry for myself.

“We wanted clear information from the police, so we’ve always been asking for it. There were a lot of community members who were asking for more information and ongoing and earlier. So certainly knowing that an arrest has been made is a relief.”

She said she’s “very grateful” to police, adding that she knows there are often complications in cases like this one.

“Sometimes people don’t talk freely and sometimes information is not shared,” Wong-Tam said. “But I think that because the police came out and said the Church and Wellesley Village residents and visitors alike, business owners and property owners and tenants and everybody else in between, help us solve this case. Tell us what you know. And we will do the very best we can to make right for you.

“And I think that’s really what happened is that the police said to the community, ‘we need your help,’ and the community then responded.”