While police remain tight-lipped about a homicide in Midland Monday, neighbours say the police had visited the same apartment building just two days earlier.
A neighbour said police took away a man Saturday night who she suspects has “mental-health problems.”
“He was back Monday morning,” she recalled during an interview with MidlandToday, just a stone’s throw from where a police cruiser sat guarding the white, two-and-a-half-storey home on Seventh Street.
Southern Georgian Bay OPP Const. Aaron Coulter said he couldn’t answer questions or release more information than what police already have since the region’s crime unit is involved and “they have to approve every word we release.”
The neighbour, who asked not to be identified, said there are two apartments in the building, with the one tenant using the back entrance, which is now covered with crime-scene tape.
A fellow neighbour who has a clear view of the back entrance said she didn’t hear anything, while the neighbour on the home's other side said he didn’t notice anything amiss until the police came roaring up with their sirens blaring and lights flashing.
“I didn’t know them at all,” said Don Chiasson.
After the police and ambulance arrived Monday shortly before 1 p.m., the first neighbour said she saw the same man being led out of the building "all covered in blood."
“It’s tragic, so sad,” she said. “I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh. What’s going on here?’”
The first neighbour said the man covered in blood appeared to be the same person who lived with his girlfriend or common-law wife in the back.
“We haven’t seen her around since,” she said, noting they both appeared to be in their early 20s. “They were always together, always holding hands.”
While the building’s lawn features a number of strollers and child car seats strewn about, the back part has a number of small bikes lined up against the wall.
The woman's husband said there are a couple of toddlers who live in the building. He said he has seen them since the incident and they appeared to be in good health.
“I think they were probably about three and four,” he said. “It’s very shocking and very sad.”
Besides the assorted kids equipment on the front lawn, there was also a full case of water and two mature trees that likely provided shade to the officer sitting in his cruiser guarding the crime scene Wednesday as another crime scene unit dark blue van remained parked out front.
Two mailboxes in the front of the building were overflowing with flyers and correspondence with a simple sign on the building noting the street it’s located on.
The sign read: “Seventh Heaven.”
