Commentary: I research mass shootings, but never believed one would happen in my condo in Canada

TORONTO: On the evening of Dec 18, five people were killed in a mass shooting at a large condominium in the community of Vaughan, Ontario, located just north of Toronto. A 73-year-old resident of the building – a man who had a long-standing dispute with the resident-based condominium governing board – opened fire on condo board members and others.

As an associate professor of disaster and emergency management, I have analysed other Canadian mass shootings like the 2018 incident on crowded Danforth Ave in Toronto and the 2020 shooting spree in Nova Scotia that left 22 people dead.

But this mass shooting was different for me. That’s because I live in the building.

I now face the cognitive dissonance of what it means to have both professional and personal survival perspectives of first-hand exposure to a mass shooting.

AN OTHERWISE NORMAL SUNDAY EVENING

The night of Dec 18 started off as an otherwise normal Sunday evening. But then I heard a fire alarm and, like many other residents of Bellaria Tower, exited the building. At the time, I had no knowledge of being in the vicinity of an active shooter.

I took the stairs down to the lobby, made my way to the garage and still thinking this was likely a false fire alarm, which usually meant waiting outside for a while, I left the complex to run some errands.

When I returned about two hours later, the level of police response on the scene – along with a large media presence – made it clear this was not a typical fire evacuation. I arrived as heavily armed tactical officers were making sure it was safe to return into the building.