Shooter and victims had clashed for weeks: Neighbors

The dispute that flared into a mass shooting that left two people dead had been celebrating for much of the summer, neighbors of the shooter and his victims say.

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Several Bradshaw Drive residents confirmed that Stratford police had become regular visitors to their usually peaceful neighborhood in recent months, sometimes showing up as frequently as two to three times a week.

That argument turned deadly Thursday night when 31-year-old Ricky Bilcke “opened fire and shot the three victims. . . before ending his own life,” police said in a Friday statement.

Jonathan Bennett, 36, was killed in the attack, pronounced dead at Stratford General Hospital after being shot from across the road with a high-powered rifle. Two other neighbors — 43-year-old David Tokley and Bennett’s partner, Stephanie Irvine — were seriously injured in the rampage by a shotgun-toting Bilcke.

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Tokley was shot when Bilcke entered the roadway, while Irvine was wounded as she exited her home.

“That neighbor dispute was going on for months, so it was really unfortunate that nothing could have been done law-wise,” said Kira Brine, who lives near the north end of Bradshaw Drive.

On the night of the attack, Bennett and Irvine were hosting some sort of get-together at their 329 Bradshaw Dr. home, neighbors said. Brine said an argument had started between Bilcke and the couple some time around 5 pm

“I don’t know what happened that night for it to get out of control like this,” Brine said.

Another neighbor, Azra Ghaffar, described Bennett and Irvine as extroverts who often hosted friends and family on their property. While the noise from these gatherings occasionally led to mild disagreements with neighbors, Ghaffar described the couple as “friendly.” Sometimes their children would play together, she said.

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“If you have a confrontation, use your words, not your weapons,” Ghaffar said. “I thought Stratford was safe.”

During the preceding weeks, Bilcke, who rented the home at 340 Bradshaw Dr., almost directly across the street from his victims’ homes, had traded jabs with Bennett and Irvine, Brine said.

“This is not something that anyone who knows (Bilcke) would ever have predicted,” said Brine, whose best friend shared a house with the shooter. “We’re all shocked.”

Another neighbor, who declined to give her name, said the squabbles between the shooter and his victims seemed relatively minor.

“None of the arguments ever seemed enough to go on talking about or anything,” she said.

The deadly violence that shattered the calm of the neighborhood has left residents shaken. While neighbors were out and about on Saturday, greeting friends from their driveways or enjoying morning strolls, bullet holes could still be seen in the upper window of a Bradshaw Drive home.

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“We used to (let) the kids play freely, now we are afraid to send the kids outside to play,” said neighbor Karith Kumar, adding he was surprised by Bilcke’s rampage

Ghaffar, a hospital worker, heard the initial shots while preparing to go to bed at around 10:30 pm

“My whole house shook,” she said.

She said she could hear a woman screaming and, looking outside, saw a man crawling on the ground before he collapsed motionless.

Officers initially responded at roughly 10:45 pm after Stratford police received multiple 911 calls about gunshots being fired in the area of ​​Bradshaw Drive and McCarthy Road West.

When officers arrived, they found four people suffering from gunshot wounds. The two survivors were rushed to London’s Victoria Hospital by Ornge air ambulance after being treated by paramedics at the scene.

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Tokley, police said, suffered life-threatening injuries while Irvine sustained life-altering injuries. Two officers remained at the hospital in London Friday to monitor the two survivors. One of the shooting victims had been in surgery, Stratford Const. Darren Fischer said.

Police weren’t able to provide an update on their conditions Saturday.

While police had left the neighborhood by Saturday morning, Bradshaw Drive was closed for most of Friday for the investigation, which involved members of the OPP forensic identification team. Officers also canvassed the area for video and witness information, police added.

Police urged anyone in the area with video surveillance or photos of the incident to submit the evidence to an online link: stratfordpolice.ca.evidence.com/axon/community-request/public/st24013979.

For anyone affected by this incident, police suggested contacting Victim Services Huron Perth at 1-866-863-4108 or www.victimserviceshuronperth.ca.

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