Exactly one week after 40-year-old Sean Petrie is suspected of going on a shooting rampage that left three people dead, including a Toronto police officer, a father of two who survived the shooting says he thought he was going to die.
Sitting at a wooden desk in the front office of MK Auto Repairs in Milton, the 42-year-old employee has gone back to work but is reminded of how close he came to getting killed by two bullet holes in the desk and a bandage on his right shin.
The man, who asked we not identify him nor show his face after the trauma of the past week, said he remains in pain but knows he is very lucky compared with his boss, 38-year-old Shakeel Ashraf, the owner of the business, and a fellow employee, 28-year-old Satwinder Singh, an international student from India who was working at the shop part-time.
Ashraf was killed that day. Halton police announced that Singh died peacefully at Hamilton General Hospital over the weekend.
The employee who survived said Singh and his boss were in the back workshop when the suspect suddenly appeared in the front office and began firing.
“I was just scared. I just put my head down on the desk and I was waiting to die,” said the employee, who identified the alleged gunman as Petrie, a former employee. “He worked here three months before for a week.”
The employee said the suspect came looking for Ashraf around 2:40 p.m. and that he told him the boss was out for getting food for lunch.
The employee said the suspect said he needed to get some work done on his car.
“He went into the back talking to the guys and suddenly my boss came in after 15-20 minutes and my boss ran back to the workshop and then suddenly I heard firing noises. Initially, I thought it was some of our hammering or welding work, but when that noise getting close to me, I realized it was something else. Something not good,” said the employee, who is now walking with a limp.
He described Satwinder Singh as a really nice man.
“He had a passion for reading and writing, which inspired him to become a poet,” a GoFundMe account set up in his memory said. “He finished his BBA and MBA in marketing in India and came to Canada to study Global Business Management. He was an international student at Conestoga College and completed his studies in August 2022. He was working part-time at an Auto Body shop to support himself financially.”
Another mechanic from MK Auto Repairs, who said he took the day off last Monday, said Singh was like a son.
“You’re not going to find a better kid than him,” said Clive Gray, who described how Singh, who worked weekends, loved to work with tools and would always give him a hug in the morning.
Police say about 30 minutes prior to the triple shooting in Milton, the suspect walked into a Tim Horton’s coffee shop at Winston Churchill Boulevard and Argentina Road and shot Const. Andrew Hong at close range.
The Toronto police officer was in Peel to lead a motorcycle training course, and was going to get coffee for his colleagues.
The suspect then ran across the street to a nearby Walmart parking lot and shot a man who he was attempting to carjack before making off in his Jeep. That man has life-altering injuries and is expected to survive.
The Special Investigations Unit confirmed last week that Petrie was shot during an exchange of gunfire with Halton and Hamilton police, who were attempting to take him into custody.
A funeral for Hong will be held Wednesday in Toronto. Members of police forces and emergency responders from across Canada are expected to attend.