WATERLOO — The brother of one of three people murdered by Patrick Dombroskie at a Waterloo factory almost 25 years ago forgives the killer but has some trepidation as his parole hearing looms.

"It's important for the sake of others in society whom he will be in contact with that he has a sense of remorse," Randy More said in an interview this week. "If you have no remorse, you could do it to somebody else."

More, 67, whose brother, Greg, was shot and killed at Ontario Glove Manufacturing Co., said he first assumed Dombroskie was "all fixed up" after 23 years behind bars.

"Maybe that was a very naïve assumption," he said. "He could be even worse, more bitter."

More said he has never heard Dombroskie express remorse for the murders.

John Strack, brother of victim Larry Strack, also worries about Dombroskie's state of mind.

"Anybody who signs papers to release him should be held liable," Strack said this week. "How can you be 100-per-cent sure that he won't do it again?"

Valdemar Travassos, husband of Elisabeth Travassos, the third victim, previously said he hopes Dombroskie spends his entire life in prison. The family declined to comment this week.

Dombroskie will be seeking day parole and full parole at a hearing on Dec. 7.

Randy More, who co-owned Ontario Glove with his brother Greg, says his forgiveness for the crime follows an example set by his mother, Noreen, who lived through bombings in Britain during the Second World War.

"So it's stiff upper lip, get on with life," More said. "She was very close to my brother, but when he's gone, he's gone, and you've got to move on. She had a lot of sorrow, but no bitterness."

Noreen died in 2011.

The killings

On Friday, Jan. 31, 1992, Dombroskie, a leather cutter who had worked at Ontario Glove for eight years, was sent home from work and told to return when he could do the job properly. The concern centred around his stacking of leather pieces.

Three days later, on the morning of Monday, Feb. 3, Dombroskie put a .30-calibre semi-automatic hunting rifle and 60 rounds of ammunition in his car, filled up with gas, bought a coffee at Conestoga Mall and drove to Ontario Glove on Dotzert Court, a cul-de-sac just across King Street North from the mall.

He entered the small factory around 11:30 a.m., quietly walking past several co-workers, looking only for those he thought were responsible for his being sent home.

In a matter of minutes, he fired six shots, killing three people.

His first victim was More's brother, Greg, 39. He was shot twice at close range.

Next was Elisabeth Travassos, 43, who had apparently complained about Dombroskie's work. She was shot from six metres away.

He then fatally shot supervisor Larry Strack, 33, from a distance of 60 metres, as Strack ran for his life outside the factory.

Randy More was in the washroom during the killings and had no idea what was happening.

When he heard a bang, he thought the heating unit on the roof had exploded "because you had this electrical smell which was not electrical, as it turned out, but was gunpowder."

More later learned he was at the top of Dombroskie's kill list.

"He first checked my office, then he went across the hall to my brother's office eight feet away," he said.

"By the time I got out of the washroom, he was getting in his car after he'd shot everybody. If it had been a difference of time by a minute or two minutes, I wouldn't be here today. It's only by God's amazing grace that I'm here."

The surrender

After the shootings, Dombroskie, who lived in Kitchener, drove to police headquarters in Cambridge and surrendered.

"When I shot (More) the first time and he fell down, I remember thinking 'God, what have I done?'" Dombroskie testified at his trial in 1993.

"A few seconds later, I shot him again. I don't know why. It seemed like I couldn't stop. I just kept going. I wanted to stop. For some reason I didn't."

Dombroskie pleaded not guilty — his lawyers tried to mount an insanity defence — but he was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years from the day of the crimes.

The 25 years is almost up. Dombroskie, who was 28 at the time of the murders and is now 53, will make a plea for his freedom at a Parole Board of Canada hearing on Dec. 7. It takes place at Bath Institution, a medium-security prison just west of Kingston.

Dombroskie, who declined to be interviewed by The Record, will be seeking both day parole and full parole. He is already eligible for day parole but must wait until Feb. 3 for full parole.

More and his wife, Jane, plan to provide their thoughts to the parole board in a letter.

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Court testimony revealed that Dombroskie, a teetotaller with no prior criminal record, had only two interests: working and hunting for deer. He went to bed every night at about 9 p.m. and got up at 5:30 a.m., work or no work.

Dombroskie grew up in Barry's Bay, a small town near Algonquin Park.

The 'giveaway signal'

"The most salient characteristic about him was that he was a loner of enormous proportions," More said. "He wouldn't talk about anything. Most people had never seen anything quite like it. That, in retrospect, was some giveaway signal."

More said testimony indicated Dombroskie may have wrongly thought he had been fired.

The attack at Ontario Glove also had some tragic twists.

Elisabeth Travassos had given up the variety store she ran with her husband because she was worried about getting robbed.

"Then to come into an environment where she thought it was very safe — it should have been very safe — was extra tragic," More said.

Ontario Glove had been owned by the More family since 1915.

"You might have a higher expectation that something like that would occur in a union-organized facility with thousands of employees, but not in our little place," More said.

"Our family and our business were built on relationships and Greg of all people was a person of second chances. That's what's so unfortunate. He'd help anybody. He couldn't hurt a flea."

Jane More noted that her husband helped one of Dombroskie's troubled stepbrothers who also worked at Ontario Glove, then Dombroskie turned around and killed Greg.

Larry Strack, meanwhile, was Dombroskie's distant relative and friend from Barry's Bay.

The memories

John Strack said in 2002 he was still haunted by an image of his brother running as Dombroskie calmly took aim, fired once and missed, then fired again and hit him in the middle of the back.

"What kind of thoughts went through his head waiting for that second shot?" he asked. "Just think of him running, running for his life. Just imagine."

Jane More said news of shootings in the United States always brings back terrible memories.

She described her brother-in-law, who was not married and had no kids, as a great guy who loved her children and loved animals. Her husband said his brother was a natural athlete.

Randy More sold Ontario Glove eight years ago. The new owners moved the factory to Washburn Drive in Kitchener.

Although More forgives Dombroskie, he has not forgotten.

"You never forget. But it is important to forgive because it accomplishes nothing not to forgive. Holding a grudge is not very good for anybody."