Moments after Faisal Hussain fatally shot himself in the head, ending a July 22 rampage that left two victims dead and 13 others wounded, police approaching his body heard a cell phone ringing on his person and answered it, reaching his worried parents on the other end.
Newly released court documents obtained by a group of news organizations including CTV News, paint a picture of a hurried and sweeping police response in the hours after the shooting, and detail how the shooter’s parents and brother were stunned that their son, who they described as a shut-in, could obtain guns and murder people.
The documents are part of an Information to Obtain (ITO) application, which police submit to the courts as part of a request for a search warrant.
Lawyers for the group of media organizations applied for the unsealing of the documents in August and on Thursday a Superior Court judge consented to the release of the ITOS with parts redacted.
The shooting along Danforth Avenue left 18-year-old Reese Fallon and 10-year-old Julianna Kozis dead.
The documents detail how towards the end of the rampage, Hussain fired at least two gunshots at the first police officers who rushed to confront him near Bowden and Danforth avenues.
He withdrew to cover and shot himself in the head.
A police officer then approached his body and heard his phone ring.
“The name ‘Home’ appeared on the screen,” investigators said in the ITO. “Officers on scene answered the phone and spoke with the parents of Hussain.”
Meanwhile, Hussain’s fraternal twin brother told police that he saw an image of who he thought was his brother on the news, and immediately texted him to “stay home.”
A short time after the phone conversation, Hussain’s parents were on their way to a police station to be interviewed, while Emergency Task Officers made their way to 43 Thorncliffe Park Drive, where Hussain lived with his parents.
The ITO says an officer and a explosives-sniffing dog entered the home, entered a bedroom at the end of hallway and the dog “hit” on a drawer at the bottom of a bed.
The officer and dog then withdrew and police asked for formal judicial authorization to search the room for evidence.
They later entered the room and seized three cameras, two iPads, two laptops, three smartphones and a portable hard drive.
The officers also located a small plastic bag in Hussain’s bedroom that they believe contained cocaine along with other items that were redacted in the documents.
What evidence they located on each electronic device was redacted by the Crown.
Witness told police he was spared
The documents also confirm a previously reported encounter between Hussain and a man who lived in the area of Danforth and Bowden.
The man told police he was walking in a laneway after 10 p.m. when he looked behind him and saw Hussain, who told the man “don’t worry, I am not going to shoot you.”
The man told police he replied “thanks,” sarcastically.
Seconds later, the witness told police he saw Hussain and heard him yell “get out of the way” before firing three shots at people exiting 7 Numbers, a restaurant located at 307 Danforth Avenue.
As a police car raced toward Hussain, the witness told police he saw Hussain fire at least two shots at the police cruiser before seeking cover and fleeing.
“He described the male as smiling as he was shooting,” the documents read.
Was suspected of shoplifting two days prior to shooting
The ITO details all of Hussain’s interactions with police in his adult life.
Aside from his previously reported interactions with police concerning his mental health in 2010, the ITO says he was detained on suspicion of shoplifting on July 20, 2018, two days prior to the shooting incident, but was “released unconditionally.”
Brother counselled him on afternoon before shooting
Hussain’s fraternal twin brother said he came to the family home on July 22 and saw his brother Faisal come home at 2:30 p.m.
Hussain’s twin told police that his mother asked him to speak to his brother about “getting his life together, getting married,” and getting some sort of direction in his life.
The twin said that although Hussain usually listened to him, this time he repeatedly called himself “mentally retarded” and then left the conversation to smoke on the balcony of the apartment.
Faisal’s twin said he left the home and Hussain was still there.
Sometime later, Faisal’s father told police Hussain left home with a shoulder bag he always carried. He said goodbye and his father said “nothing seemed unusual.”
The court documents say the twin told police Hussain had previously “robbed a store with a gun, called police to say he wanted to kill himself, and has been on anti-depressants.” However, police interaction records listed in the ITO make no mention of such an interaction.
Hussain’s father said he forced his son to attend Friday prayers at a nearby mosque with him, but that he was not devout and seemed disinterested in religion.
His mother told police “he goes for walks in the evenings but she does not know where he goes.”
She said her son never talked about guns, but his brother told police he was very interested in guns when he was younger.
His mother disclosed that Hussain had a psychiatrist.
The court documents withheld the names of Hussain’s mother, father and twin.
Hussain’s family released a statement less than 24 hours after the shooting in which they said that he struggled with “severe mental health challenges” and “psychosis” his entire life.
ISIS also claimed responsibility for the shooting in a statement released by its AMAQ propaganda wing but police in Toronto have said that there is “no evidence” to support the claim and no evidence in the ITO points to this conclusion either.
