Security camera footage taken from inside a popular Toronto steakhouse shows the “brief encounter” between a hooded suspect and staff before a well-known real estate agent was shot to death.
Simon Giannini, a 54-year-old real estate agent and occasional radio host, was dining at Michael’s On Simcoe at around 9 p.m. Saturday when a gunman walked into the busy restaurant and made a beeline for him, shooting him multiple times.
Diners rushed to help Giannini before paramedics arrived but he died hours later in hospital.
Investigators quickly classified the brazen shooting as a “targeted” attack.
New surveillance footage, released Wednesday by Toronto Police, shows the moments that lead up the shooting and those that follow – including the getaway vehicle speeding away.
The video is a compilation of five clips but does not show the shooting itself.
It begins by showing the suspect as he enters the restaurant, pausing as he walks down a set of stairs to pull the sleeves of a hooded sweatshirt over his hands.
The suspect is wearing a hoodie over his head that is tightly pulled together, hiding most of his face.
From there, the man walks by the front desk and exchanges words with an employee before walking into the dining area.
The owner of the restaurant, Michael Dabik, has told reporters that staff took immediate notice of the man because of how he was dressed, asking him, “Can I help you?”
The man reportedly said he was looking for a friend. The video shows him walking into the dining room.
But then, the video then cuts to the aftermath – the suspect runs out of the dining room, back up the set of stairs and out the door.
Security footage obtained from outside the restaurant shows a light-coloured SUV-type vehicle speeding down nearby Pearl Street. Investigators believe the suspect got into the passenger side of the vehicle before it sped away.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Toronto Police Homicide Det. Shannon Dawson said people should pay special attention to the suspect’s clothing.
“When watching this video, it’s very important to note that video distorts colour. It appears that the suspect is in very light-coloured clothing however, as a result of descriptions provided by witnesses, we know that the clothing is actually dark in colour,”
“Don’t just think about the colour, but think about the emblems especially the one on the jacket. I find that to be quite distinctive.”
The suspect is described as a black man, between five-foot-seven and five-foot-11 with a medium build.
He was last seen wearing dark clothing with a hooded sweater pulled around his face. Dawson said there’s an emblem visible on the left-side chest area of the sweater that may be the letter ‘B.’
Dawson said other patrons, restaurant staff and the Entertainment District business community has been crucial to their investigation.
“We’re looking at everything. We’re contacting all of the people who were in the restaurant, all of the staff that night,” she said. “The community and people at the restaurant have been very forthcoming, as has the restaurant itself, and the staff. Everyone has been very cooperative with us.”
Despite this, Dawson said investigators have not obtained any information that would explain why Giannini was targeted.
“It’s still very early and we are keeping all options open. We aren’t closed to either that it was someone that he knew or (someone that was) hired,” she said.
“There’s nothing to indicate he (Giannini) was involved in anything suspicious.”
She also dispelled any suggestion that the restaurant – which was the location of a previous shooting in 2015 – had any connection to Giannini’s murder.
“I don’t see anything other than the fact that he happened to be having dinner there that night,” she said. “There’s absolutely no relationship with that restaurant and the shooting as far as our investigation has shown at this point.”
Friends and colleagues of Giannini’s told CP24 over the weekend that they were shocked to learn that his life had ended so violently.
Described as “respected” and “loved by everyone,” they said his death will leave a “huge loss.”
Giannini leaves two young sons behind, as well as his mother and sisters.
Dabic previously said his daughter, who works at Michael’s on Simcoe full-time, heard Giannini speak to the gunman before shots were fired.
“She was there when the assailant approached Simon. She heard Simon say something like, ‘hahaha – you gotta be kidding’ or ‘hahaha, very funny,’” Dabic told CP24 Monday.
“So he knew it was coming and he thought it was some joke.”
Dabic went on to say that staff believed the suspect seemed to know exactly where Giannini was dining.
He said after the shooting, a waiter chased after the suspect and got the licence plate of the vehicle, but investigators said they were not yet ready to release that information.
“I’m asking people to look at this video critically and carefully,” Dawson said. “Consider the fact the clothing is darker than what it appears in the video. If they can think about if that jacket – if they know anything about that jacket or if they’ve seen someone with that jacket that matches the description that we’ve provided.”
A visitation for Giannini, who had two sons, will be held at Highland Funeral Home in Scarborough on Friday from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m.
A funeral mass will be held at St. Issac Jogues Catholic Church in Pickering on Saturday at 10:30 a.m.
