Girl dies in Scarborough hotel incident
Toronto police are trying to sort out the tragic events that left a six-year-old girl dead and sent her brother and father to hospital on Monday evening.
The investigation began when police went to an unspecified address in Scarborough at around 4 p.m. Neighbours say that a man, woman and their young children live at the townhouse complex where police were called.
As a result of that investigation, police then went from the house to a Howard Johnson hotel near Highway 401 and Warden Avenue just after 7 p.m.
At the hotel, located at 22 Metropolitan Rd., police found a young girl in distress. The girl was later pronounced dead in hospital.
Homicide detectives are investigating.
A man and a young boy were also taken to hospital. Their conditions are unknown.
The post-mortem examination was completed Tuesday afternoon. The result was inconclusive, pending further tests.
CBC News has learned that the deceased girl was a kindergarten student at Beverly Glen Junior Public School in Scarborough.
Letters have been sent home with students and the school will be flying its flag at half-mast in remembrance. Counsellors will be at the school on Wednesday.
Crystal, a guest at the hotel last night, was directly below what is now a crime scene. She said that she heard a lot of commotion upstairs.
“It was mainly a lot of footsteps … back and forth, back and forth,” she said.
Another guest, Julian, was only two doors away from the room that's now cordoned off by police. He described the chaotic moment that emergency services arrived.
“Just the fire trucks and everything coming in, police ripping in…,” he said. “All of a sudden they’re all rushing in the front and then [there was] some yelling and then they starting knocking on our doors and said it was a homicide.”
Neighbours who spoke with CBC News said they have had very little interaction with the family, but that they appeared to be a happy family.
"[They were a] beautiful family, happy family, great neighbours, always saying hello," said Peter Aliyianis who lives nearby.
However, Rudy Gafer, a family friend, said that he noticed problems a few years ago when the husband asked if he could stay at Gafer's home.
"Somebody is not allowed to stay in his house for three nights and [he] comes and asks me for sanctuary and he had that sort of far-away look…I'm old enough to know that something is wrong," said Gafer, who has known the family since they moved into the complex in 2010.
"It's shocking, it's heartbreaking," he said.
CBC News has learned the husband has a previous fraud-related charged laid against him and was scheduled to appear in court next month.
