Sitting outside sipping a cider with his wife Thursday night, north end resident Bob Roth vividly recalled a collection of gun shots go off.
“We heard the one, that’s when you think it’s a firecracker. Ten seconds later we heard another one. No other noises and then about five seconds later, we heard another one.”
“So we are looking at each other, my wife and I, and I said, that was gun shots.”
Roth posted in a local group on Facebook about what he had heard and within minutes comments came flooding in about what was later determined to be a shooting on Bradshaw Drive, off McCarthy Road West.
Stratford Police said Friday morning that two people are dead. Another person has life-threatening injuries, another has life-altering injuries. Both injured people were air lifted to Victoria Hospital in London.
Later on Friday afternoon, police said a 31-year-old male named Ricky Bilcke opened fire and shot three victims after involvement in an ongoing neighbour dispute, before ending his own life.
The shooter initially opened fire from across the road with a high-powered rifle, and struck the first victim, Jonathan Bennett, age 36, who was later pronounced dead at hospital.
The shooter retrieved a shotgun and entered onto the roadway where he shot the second victim, David Tokley, age 43, currently in hospital receiving treatment for life-threatening injuries. The third victim, Stephanie Irvine exited her residence
and was targeted and shot by the shooter.
Roth laments that some comments got out of hand on the social media site but he was amazed as his post also acted as a gathering spot of sorts for information that include videos of police officers arriving and moving towards the scene, and a camera that picked up popping sounds – later confirmed as gun shots.
Speculation was rampant about what happened, he said.
Roth looked up Bradshaw Drive after heading over, saw flashing lights and knew that something awful had happened.
Roth said despite the violent incident, Stratford is a safe city and the incident, though tragic, is a rarity.
A portion of Bradshaw Drive in the 300 block remained closed Friday for the investigation and officers asking for any video and witness information.
Anyone with video surveillance that can assist police can submit it here.
Police have also asked that any videos related to the incident on social media be taken down out of respect for the victims and the trauma it has caused.
Police emphasized there is no further threat to the public and have extended condolences to all individuals impacted.
