The three victims of a grisly crossbow attack in Scarborough last week have been identified as the alleged murderer’s mother and brothers.

On Aug. 25, Susan Ryan, Alexander Ryan and Christopher Ryan were killed after a violent incident involving a crossbow at a residence near Lawndale and Argo roads.

A fourth person, also believed to be the suspect’s brother, was rushed to hospital with serious injuries but has since been released.

A publication ban previously withheld the identification of the victims but the ban was lifted during a court hearing this morning.

Yesterday, Toronto police confirmed the suspect’s mother died due to ligature strangulation. They said one of the two men was killed as a result of a “crossbow bolt stab wound to the neck” and the other of a “single arrowhead stab wound to the neck.”

According to investigators, two of the “lifeless bodies” were found in a garage and the third on the adjacent driveway.

Police said the person who called 9-1-1 to report the incident was one of the victims.

A close friend of Susan Ryan told CP24 she was in her mid-60s and that her husband had passed away two years ago from cancer. That same friend said that two of her sons lived with her – Alexander, and another son who was injured in the attack.

A neighbour who witnessed the aftermath told CTV Toronto he opened the door to a man named Lee pleading for help.

“He said, ‘Call 9-1-1, my brother is bleeding in the driveway. Make sure the police come and find my mom’,” the neighbour said. “He kept saying, ‘Make sure the police come.”

The neighbour said the driveway was “covered in blood.”

Following the attack, 35-year-old Brett Ryan was arrested at the scene. He has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder.

Victim a veteran of TTC

One of the men killed in the triple homicide was a 12 year veteran with the Toronto Transit Commission, TTC spokesperson Brad Ross confirmed Tuesday.

Christopher Ryan, 42, was a toll collector who had been employed by the TTC since Nov. 22, 2004.

“Until today, a court-ordered publication ban did not permit us to share this tragic news with you,” Ross said in a statement issued via his Twitter account. “On behalf of the entire TTC family, we offer our deepest condolences to Mr. Ryan’s family, friends and colleagues.”

Ross added that flags at Hillcrest station on Bathurst Street will be lowered to half-staff in Ryan’s memory.

Criminal history

Brett Ryan was previously charged in relation to more than a dozen robberies committed across Toronto and Durham Region in 2008. He was dubbed the “fake beard bandit” because of a phony beard he allegedly wore during the incidents.

Police confirmed that Ryan was sentenced to three years and in months in prison back in Jan. 2009.

At a news conference Monday, police urged anyone who had contact with the suspect – particularly between 7:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. on Aug. 25 – to call and speak with police.

They also addressed a second scene at a downtown Toronto condo that was investigated the day of the murders.

About 90 minutes after the incident in Scarborough, a condo tower at 218 Queens Quay at the Harbourfront was evacuated due to a suspicious package. Police later confirmed there was a connection between the murders and the package found in a condo unit there but assured residents the items found posed “no danger” to the public.

Anyone with information about Ryan and the investigation is being asked to call the homicide investigations at 416-808-7400 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477).