Son mourns 'the best kind of guy' after father killed in Dartmouth

The last words Dylan Reid says he shared with his father, Darren, before he died Monday were, "I love you." The father's words back to his son were, "I love you, too."

About two hours later, Darren Reid, 52, died in his own apartment on Portland Street in Dartmouth, N.S. On Wednesday morning, Halifax police charged Joseph Noel Landry, 68, with second-degree murder.

"I called him just a couple of hours before the incident," Dylan Reid said of his father.  

The two talked about carpentry. Reid said his father, who was born and raised in Dartmouth, had worked as a carpenter for most of his life and his son was interested in following in his footsteps.   

They planned to have breakfast Tuesday to talk more about his plans.

Son arrived before ambulance

Reid said he doesn't know what happened or why his father died.

He was with his girlfriend Monday night when he got a phone call from a friend who works at the pizza parlour below his father's apartment.  

His friend told him he thought his father was involved in some kind of episode upstairs. Reid said he got there before the ambulance. "They didn't seem to rush." That worried him.

He said he told police on the scene he was Darren Reid's son, but police wouldn't share any information. He waited on the sidewalk with all the other bystanders wondering what was going on.

"The place was surrounded by police," Dylan Reid said. "They couldn't give me an explanation. I kind of formed it myself by watching the paramedics."  

About 30 minutes after he arrived, one of those paramedics told him his father was dead.

Halifax Regional Police said when they arrived at the apartment on Portland Street at about 8:30 p.m Monday, they found Darren Reid suffering from life-threatening injuries. EHS pronounced him dead at the scene.

Police said Reid and Landry knew each other, and Landry was known to police.

"The nature of that connection we're not going to get into, but they are known to each other," said Supt. Jim Perrin. "We have had dealings with [Landry] in the past."

Reid said he doesn't know the man charged with killing his father. He described his father as "the best kind of guy," who helped people and was "a great man."

"Well loved and well liked and I'm going to miss him. I'm going to miss him."