Victims ID’d in triple fatal shooting at North York office

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Two of the people killed in a daytime triple shooting at a North York office on Monday had reportedly been in legal trouble tied to alleged mortgage schemes.

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Police on Tuesday afternoon identified the dead as Arash Missaghi, 54, of Toronto, and Samira Yousefi, 44, of Concord, Ont., while the third deceased is an unnamed 46-year-old man who police believe was responsible for the shooting following an altercation between the trio.

Citing sources, the Toronto Star reported that Missaghi was charged in 2018 but never convicted of defrauding investors of as much as $17 million in an alleged scheme dating back to 2013 that targeted luxury homes in the Bridle Path.

Yousefi was recently named in a lawsuit as operating a front in a recent mortgage scheme, sources told the Star.

Meanwhile, it was cautiously back to reading and writing for a nearby daycare and two schools that had been in lockdown less than 24 hours before.

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“The kids are great — they had no clue what was going on (Monday),” said daycare supervisor Sarah Ashfield, who didn’t hear any shots being fired or know the three people who died.

“We followed our lockdown procedures. They were busy inside, eating snacks, playing games, reading stories. They didn’t know much. All they knew was when you come outside, you say hi to the police officers, your parents are outside,” she added. “Their parents are going through a flood of emotions, which is fair enough. It’s obviously a scary time. Their children are next door (to the crime scene). But again, all the kids again were completely safe.”

Students from nearby Westfield Secondary School streamed out for lunch under the watchful eye of their principal while Northmount School next door was quieter.

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Police tape and a couple of special constable cruisers remained outside the office at 25 Mallard Rd.

The business conducts financial transactions, police said.

Two people, who could be seen hugging and crying, didn’t want to speak to reporters, but the man was said to be waiting to pick up his car in the back parking lot behind the crime scene tape while the woman, who worked at the office part time, just came to get a look at the scene.

Ashfield said crisis counsellors were coming Tuesday to speak to staff and parents but because of their young ages (0-4) the children themselves were blissfully unaware of what was happening Monday at around 3:30 p.m. when gunfire rang out.

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“It is shocking,” Ashfield said. “This is not something we’d expect. I’ve been working here 12 years. First time something like this has ever happened so this is definitely a big shock.”

Toronto City Councillor Jon Burnside (Ward 16, Don Valley East) also turned up Tuesday afternoon to speak to reporters, saying there have been some calls into his office about the shootings.

“But most people, I think, are waiting to hear, to find out exactly what happened,” Burnside told reporters at the scene. “As we know, when it hits close to home people are obviously at a heightened sense of concern. They’re just trying to figure out what happened, whether it was work-related or otherwise targeted.”

Burnside said his ward “has been dealing with a lot of break-ins, home invasions, presumably to steal cars, and of course, the theft of vehicles, so the community is very engaged on that level. This just takes it to a whole other level.”

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