A 57-year-old accused of pushing a man in front of a Toronto subway train on Monday has been charged with first-degree murder.
John Reszetnik made a court appearance in Toronto on Tuesday morning and was remanded into custody.
Police said the suspect and the accused were about to board a train on the eastbound platform of Bloor-Yonge Station on Monday morning when the suspect allegedly shoved the victim.
“Our allegations are the incident took place in a very quick fashion and ended very quickly,” Toronto police homicide Det. Rob North told reporters on Tuesday.
An arrest was made shortly after the incident.
Just after 5 p.m. on Tuesday, police identified the deceased as 73-year-old Toronto resident Yosuke Hayahara.
North said at this point, police believe it was a completely unprovoked attack.
The former landlord of Reszetnik described him as being “eccentric.”
In an interview with Global News on Tuesday, Miriam, who asked not to be identified, said Reszetnik came to live with her family in the basement apartment of their North York home after using a rental agency to find her a tenant.
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“He (Reszetnik) was our tenant for about almost ten years. I think an interesting person. He had issues and we just wanted him out eventually so he moved out about a year ago and we wished him well,” said Miriam. She said that Reszetnik drank too much which made her and her husband uncomfortable.
When asked outside court today if mental health was being looked at as a possible motive, North said “we’re going to follow the evidence wherever it leads us and if that’s the case, that’s the road we’ll go down.”
Miriam could not confirm if Reszetnik had mental health issues but said during the years he lived with them, he didn’t work. She said he was on disability and would sometimes putter about the garden and help with the garbage.
Miriam said she was horrified to learn her former tenant had been charged with firsts-degree murder.
“It’s very scary. It’s very scary because he lived in our neighbourhood, in our house, in our basement.”
The accused is known to police and had a “minor interaction” with officers in 2015. North declined to elaborate on what had occurred or whether charges were laid.
Anyone who may have been on the platform and witnessed the incident is urged to contact the Toronto police homicide unit at 416-808-7400.
“Our priority is to reach out to those seven or eight individuals who we believe have very significant material evidence that can assist us in our investigation,” North said.
Reszetnik is scheduled to appear in court on July 17.
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