Lance Cunningham’s friends are still in shock after the 47-year-old chef, husband and father was allegedly murdered in a Niagara Falls park by a stranger last Wednesday afternoon, who has also been accused of killing someone in Toronto the day before and someone in Hamilton the day after.
Cunningham’s death, a daylight attack in a park toward the city’s edge, is being treated as a random attack by police.
“It didn’t make any sense,” Andreas Priftis said in an interview with Global News. Priftis and his wife, Haven, say they got to know the Cunninghams because their children have gone to school together since kindergarten.
“Lance and I worked in the same building together,” Priftis continued. “He was a chef at the casino. He was such a lovely man and he loved his daughter and it’s just so senseless.”
On Wednesday, Cunningham took his two dogs for a walk at John Allan Park before picking up his 13-year-old daughter from a nearby school sometime before 3 p.m.
Niagara Regional Police say that, it was around then at 2:49 p.m., they received a call for a disturbance in the park. When they arrived, they found Cunningham suffering from critical injuries. Despite medical intervention, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police searched the area but failed to find anyone. That night, just before midnight, they put out a news release, which said “there is no information to suggest that there is an immediate threat to safety for the public stemming from this incident.”
Andreas Haven Priftis were stunned when they learned Cunningham was the victim.
“I said to my mom, ‘You won’t believe this, someone was murdered in the park across from the school,’” Haven said.
“I had no idea at the time, no idea, that it was Lance. And then it came out it was him. I didn’t even believe it. I couldn’t believe it. It was his wife’s birthday so I texted her just to send her a ‘Happy Birthday and how are you?’ that’s when it all hit.”
The couple say they’re also concerned that police did not do more to warn the public after the murder.
“The brutal nature of it. Whether it was random or not, the fact that it was this apparent spree, broad daylight as well, there are a lot of fearful parents,” added Haven.
“Because it did happen at the time that it did and school was being let out shortly after and there wasn’t a lockdown, there wasn’t any notification about it, my concern is it was so random. That’s why it was fearful because you didn’t know what to expect next.”
Police initially not sure the attack was random
On Thursday, at a news conference about the arrest of the accused Sabrina Kauldhar, Chief Bill Fordy was asked why police didn’t warn the public about the threat of a suspect on the loose after Cunningham’s murder.
Fordy said at the time, police were not aware it was a random attack and virtually within 24 hours of Cunnningham’s murder, a suspect was in custody.
“I think there should have at least been an abundance of caution and it did not feel like there was,” said Haven.
“Even just to put out a warning so we can decide for ourselves. OK I’m going to pick up my children because I had no idea and that’s frustrating because it could have been a lot worse,” said Haven who said children were getting out of school just twenty minutes later.
On Thursday, less than 24 hours after Cunningham was fatally attacked, 77-year-old Mario Bilich, a retired high school teacher was fatally stabbed in a parking lot in Hamilton as he was walking back to his car. Bilich also did not know Kauldhar who has been charged with first-degree murder in that case.
For now, the couple is trying to focus on supporting Cunningham’s widow and daughter and remembering their friend.
“We feel really powerless in a situation like this and want to do something for this family. He was like a fun-loving, baseball dad, Steelers fan, and wonderful funny man,” said Haven, who is urging the community to donate to a GoFundMe for Cunningham’s widow and daughter.
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