Hamilton and Niagara attack victims remembered as loving fathers
Police said Mario Bilich, 77 and Lance Cunningham, 47 were both killed in random attacks
Hamilton's Mario Bilich, 77, was the type of teacher who inspired students to enter the profession themselves and a helicopter parent before it was popular, his daughter said in a Facebook post Friday afternoon.
Niagara's Lance Cunningham, 47, was the fun dad to his 13-year-old daughter and an outdoorsman who loved to hike with his dogs, his wife told CBC Toronto.
Earlier Friday, police said Bilich and Cunningham are two of three people believed to have been killed by Sabrina Kauldhar, 30, in Toronto, Hamilton and Niagara Falls. Niagara police arrested Kauldhar on Thursday, and have charged her with second-degree murder in the death of an unidentified Toronto woman, second-degree murder in Cunningham's death and first-degree murder in Bilich's death.
Police said both men were randomly attacked.
Security camera footage from local resident Daniel Myles shows Bilich and Kauldhar walking in the same area, only minutes before police were called to a parking lot for reports of an unresponsive man suffering from stab wounds.
Myles said police were at his home on Thursday asking for video of the attack, which he said happened across the street from him.
"Once I started looking through the footage, I began to realize it was a targeted attack on a totally defenceless, harmless elderly man," Myles said.
Bilich's daughter, Antonella Bilich Greco, said his death may have been before or after he made his daily trip to visit his wife's grave at the cemetery.
"Our dad, babbo, papà was a poet, an extremely devoted husband and father and nonno, a very funny and quirky guy," she wrote. "A frequenter of Italian and Portuguese coffee hang-out spots, a buyer of eggs and cheese, a constant shopper at the Jackson Square market, a lover of walking, and the best purchaser of perfectly ripe fruit that ever existed."
Police said Bilich was well-known in the community as a retired teacher with the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board. He was found unresponsive in the parking lot of 209 MacNab Street North just after noon on Thursday in Hamilton, police said.
Patrick Daly, chair of the school board, said in an email Friday that Bilich was held in the highest regard by his students.
"We are shocked and saddened and will remember the repose of his soul, family and all who loved Mario in our prayers," Daly said.
Bilich Greco said her father leaves behind several grandchildren from seven-and-a-half weeks to 15 years old.
"Since our mom died of cancer at the end of June 2022, he asked God pretty much every day to take him home," she wrote.
While he lived nearly a decade longer than his wife, who died at the age of 69, his death happened "far too quickly, far too abruptly, far too violently," she said.
Calogero Milazzo is the secretary and part-time bartender at Trinacria Sport Club, which aims to promote Sicilian culture. He said Bilich frequently visited the club, including on the day he died.
That day, Bilich performed his usual routine of having a coffee and sitting for an hour or so before leaving around 12 p.m., he said.
When Milazzo found out Bilich had died, he said he initially thought Bilich had a heart attack — before learning he had been stabbed.
"We were all taken aback," Milazzo said. "He was only 77 years old, he should be here with us"
Sam Agro met Bilich through the sport club, where they would often buy each other coffee.
"I can describe him as the perfect gentleman," Agro said. "Always happy, always something nice to say."
After reading about an incident happening near the club on Instagram Thursday, Agro said he was concerned that a member of the club may have been involved. The next day, he learned Bilich had died.
"It was just shocking," Agro said. "A totally senseless death."
Cunningham was 'the fun dad,' wife says
On Wednesday, police were called at 2:49 p.m. to John Allan Park in Niagara Falls after reports of a disturbance. When officers arrived, they found a man critically injured. Despite attempts to save his life by paramedics and firefighters, Lance Cunningham was pronounced dead at the scene.
Kim Cunningham, his wife, told CBC Toronto in a Facebook message that he was "a wonderful father for our daughter, the fun dad."
A chef by trade, she said he was a lifelong fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, loved all kinds of music and was always ready to help people with advice.
"He did not deserve this," she said. "I want my husband back."
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With files from Muriel Draaisma and Naama Weingarten