Toronto boy, 6, found dead in East York murder-suicide, police say
Police found bodies of boy, 58-year-old father in East York apartment building
A six-year-old boy and his father are dead following an apparent murder-suicide in East York, Toronto police say.
Officers responded to a medical-related call at an apartment unit on Gamble Avenue near Broadview Avenue just after 7 p.m. on Monday.
Once inside the unit, police and paramedics located the bodies of the boy and his 58-year-old father.
"There was trauma to the body of the little boy," Toronto police Const. Allyson Douglas-Cook said in an interview.
Police have identified the boy as Simon Cico and his father as Zlatan Cico.
The cause of death cannot be determined until post-mortem examinations are conducted, police said.
The Gamble Avenue apartment is the father's residence. The boy's mother lives at another address but attended the scene around the time the bodies were discovered, police said.
The boy's death is being investigated as Toronto's 28th homicide of 2017. There are no outstanding suspects.
Pearse Vujcic, a neighbour and friend of Cico for 11 years, says from the screams he heard last night he knew someone was dead.
When he left his apartment, Vujcic says he discovered Cico's wife, who he believed was having a panic attack.
"His wife was sitting on the floor, crying, screaming and was in great deal of pain and shock," Vujcic said. "She was hoping the child was not inside."
Vujcic saw the bodies of the father and son and says he didn't notice Cico was depressed.
"If I knew he was suicidal, I would talk to him like I did many times before and this would never happen. I blame myself that I never noticed," Vujcic said. "Such ... a great child, such a great father and they're gone. I'm going to miss them dearly."
Vujcic recalls Cico as a well-mannered, polite and calm man who was good with electronics, but he says Cico had encountered hard times before.
He says he's speaking out because he feels some will look at what happened and label Cico.
"They're going to say, 'He's the devil,' He was a bad man, a horrible man. He was a killer. He killed a child,'" Vujcic said.
"It's not that simple and it's not fair to label someone if they don't know the guy. He was a great man, a good father."