Son accused of cross-bow slaying of father is remanded

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A day after a 52-year-old man was shot dead with a crossbow, his son sat in a downtown court accused of killing him, neighbours on a quiet suburban street recalled a history of domestic violence in the family and officers remained at the library where the homicide unfolded to gather evidence.

Dressed in an orange prisoner's jumpsuit, 24-year-old Zhou Fang stood expressionless, staring straight ahead during his brief court appearance on Friday morning.

He said his name in a low whisper, was briefly advised by duty counsel and quietly assented when he was told he was charged with first-degree murder, told he would be remanded and asked if he understood.

After being told he will make a court appearance next week via video link, guards cuffed the man's hands behind his back and led him out.

Mr. Fang is accused of killing his father, Si Cheng, shortly after 4 p.m. the previous day at a library on Main Street, south of Gerrard Street East. Mr. Cheng is believed to have been sitting down when a man sprayed a noxious substance in the air and shot him with a crossbow inside the building, which was full of mothers and children and next door to a school. The older man fell forward .

Witnesses reported seeing a man calmly walk out of the library, get into a U-Haul van in a nearby laneway and drive off. Tips from the public led police to Phenix Drive and Hollis Avenue, three kilometres away, in Scarborough, where they arrested Mr. Fang shortly after.

Police declined to discuss a motive, but pointed out that Mr. Fang is charged with first-degree murder, suggesting the attack is believed to have been pre-meditated. They also said that Mr. Fang had been living in Ottawa, while his father was a Toronto resident.

On Mintwood Drive, a winding residential street of single-family homes just south of Steeles Avenue, neighbours said a man they knew as William Cheng had lived until recently in a modest duplex, and had been accused in the past of abusing his wife and son. One woman said she had been told he was a chemical engineer.

Property records show that Si Cheng and Cheng Mei Fang bought the house together in October, 2000. Court documents show Mr. Cheng was ordered to pay spousal support to Ms. Fang, as well as child support for their son, Zhou Fang, and that ownership of the property was to be transferred to Ms. Fang, who also went by the name of Nora, while Si Cheng lived there and paid rent.

Some media reports cited court documents that said Mr. Cheng had served time in jail for assaulting his wife and her mother in front of Mr. Fang.

Neighbours said Mr. Cheng had lived there alone for several years after his wife and son left. He came and went late at night by a side door, kept to himself and didn't appear to have visitors, they said.

"Mail backed up in the mailbox," said a next-door neighbour who declined to give her name. "The city had to come and cut his grass."

A few weeks ago, Mr. Cheng was evicted from the house, and police arrived with workers to change the locks. Another neighbour said people appeared to be renovating the place, which Mr. Cheng's wife had sold. Property records indicate ownership of the house was officially transferred the same day as the homicide.

On Friday evening, it sat quiet and dark, with no answer at either the front door or the door to a basement suite.

Meanwhile, police tape continued to surround the library. One officer was seen carrying a clear plastic cylinder with arrows and a cardboard box with "machete" written on the side.

Nearby business owners and patrons were abuzz about the unusual homicide and everyone was curious to know who the slain man was.

"It's 4:30, the school has finished - to walk in and pepper-spray the guy," said Leo Liu, standing behind the counter of a café next door. He said he saw the van in the alleyway that separates his establishment from the library property the previous day and thought nothing of it. It sat there for an hour, he said, before he saw people flooding out of the library.

Startled library staff and patrons huddled inside his café, out of the cold, until police arrived to question them.

"It's so crazy," said Amy Phua at the hair salon across the street. "Sometimes the young kill the young, but not the old."

The sheer unusualness of the homicide wasn't lost on emergency workers, either, who agreed they couldn't think of the last time someone was killed by crossbow in Toronto. But everyone took some solace in the fact that, a day after the slaying, it didn't appear members of the public were at risk.

"This was a targeted killing," Constable Tony Vella said in the lobby of police headquarters. "This was not random."

With reports from Celia Donnelly and The Canadian Press