The dispute that flared into a mass shooting that left two people dead had been festering for much of the summer, neighbours of the shooter and the three people he shot say.
Several residents of Bradshaw Drive in Stratford confirmed Stratford police had become regular visitors to their usually peaceful north-end neighbourhood in recent months, sometimes showing up as frequently as two to three times a week.
That dispute turned deadly Thursday night when 31-year-old Ricky Bilcke shot three neighbours with a high-powered rifle and shotgun and then fatally shot himself, police said Friday.
Jonathan Bennett, 36, died at Stratford General Hospital after Bilcke shot him from across the street with a high-powered rifle. Two other neighbours — 43-year-old David Tokley and Bennett’s partner Stephanie Irvine — were seriously wounded in the rampage by Bilcke when he shot them with a shotgun.
Tokley was shot when Bilcke entered the roadway, while Irvine was wounded as she came out of her home.
“That neighbour dispute was going on for months, so it was really unfortunate that nothing could have been done law-wise,” said Kira Brine, who lives near the north end of Bradshaw Drive in the neighbourhood near the Stratford Rotary Complex.
On the night of the attack, Bennett and Irvine were hosting a get-together at their 329 Bradshaw Dr. home, neighbours said. Brine said an argument had started between Bilcke and the couple some time around 5 p.m.
“I don’t know what happened that night for it to get out of control like this,” Brine said.
Another neighbour, Azra Ghaffar, described Bennett and Irvine as extroverts who often hosted friends and family on their property. While the noise from these gatherings occasionally led to mild disagreements with neighbours, Ghaffar described the couple as friendly. Sometimes their children would play together, she said.
“If you have a confrontation, use your words, not your weapons,” Ghaffar said. “I thought Stratford was safe.”
During the preceding weeks, Bilcke, who rented a home at 340 Bradshaw Dr., almost directly across the street from his victims’ homes, had traded jabs with Bennett and Irvine, Brine said.
“This is not something that anybody that knows (Bilcke) would ever have predicted,” said Brine, whose best friend shared a house with Bilcke. “We’re all shocked.”
Another neighbour, who declined to give her name, said the squabbles between Bilcke and his victims seemed relatively minor.
“None of the arguments ever seemed enough to go on talking about or anything,” she said.
The deadly violence that shattered the calm of the neighbourhood has left residents shaken. While neighbours were out and about on Saturday, greeting friends from their driveways or enjoying morning strolls, bullet holes could still be seen in the upper window of a Bradshaw Drive home.
“We used to (let) the kids play freely, now we are afraid to send the kids outside to play,” said neighbour Karith Kumar, adding he was surprised by Bilcke’s rampage.
Ghaffar, a hospital worker, heard the initial shots while preparing to go to bed at around 10:30 p.m.
“My whole house shook,” she said.
She said she could hear a woman screaming and, looking outside, saw a man crawling on the ground before he collapsed motionless.
Officers responded at about 10:45 p.m. after Stratford police received several 911 calls about gunshots being fired in the area of Bradshaw Drive and McCarthy Road West.
When officers arrived, they found four people suffering from gunshot wounds. The two survivors were flown to London’s Victoria Hospital by Ornge air ambulance after being treated by paramedics at the scene.
Tokley, police said, suffered life-threatening injuries while Irvine sustained life-altering injuries. Two officers remained at the hospital in London on Friday to monitor the two survivors. One of the shooting victims had been in surgery, Stratford Const. Darren Fischer said.
Police weren’t able to provide an update on their conditions Saturday.
Though police had left the neighbourhood by Saturday morning, Bradshaw Drive was closed for most of Friday for the investigation that involved members of the OPP forensic identification team. Officers also canvassed the area for video and witness information, police said.
Police urged anyone in the area with video surveillance or photos of the incident to submit the evidence to an online link:
With files from Bill Atwood