Man, 33, shot dead outside his Toronto apartment, keys still clutched in hand

TORONTO, Ont. – A reclusive man, known to open his door only to those he knew well, was shot dead outside his apartment in east-end Toronto, his key still clutched in his hand.

Detectives were trying Friday to determine whether Kevin Williams, 33, was coming or going from his 10th-floor apartment when he was shot.

Williams, nicknamed “Lex” after fictional super-villain Lex Luthor, had either just locked his door or was about to unlock it when neighbours heard a confrontation and gunshots at about 10 p.m. on Thursday.

Harvey Reid, a neighbour who lives on the eighth floor, said he ran upstairs to find his friend lying on his back with blood pooling from the back of his head. His apartment key was still clutched in his hand and there were two shell casings on the carpet, he said.

“My stomach dropped,” Reid said. “I was like, ‘Lex! Lex!’ and he wasn’t moving.”

Reid said Williams had been shot once before, in 2005, when a bullet went through his apartment door and hit him in the shoulder. Toronto police Det.-Sgt. Terry Browne said Williams was “a witness” in the 2005 incident, “but he was not the target.”

Williams, who friends said suffered from bipolar disorder, was often seen walking his dogs.

He was known as a polite man who mostly kept to himself and sometimes engaged in conversations about politics in his native Jamaica.

“He didn’t like confrontation,” Reid said. “He’s humble. He doesn’t trouble anybody … He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

Browne said while Williams did have some contact with police, there was “nothing major.”

Reid was convinced somebody “set him up,” given that Williams never opened his door to strangers.

“I know it was somebody he knows,” Reid said. “It wasn’t a robbery thing … It was like they set him up to do something to him.”

Williams, a music lover, had dreams of selling his dogs and moving to Africa, Reid said.