Shots are fired as a gunman storms the home of Toronto billionaire Rosedale

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A gunman fired multiple shots at Canadian businessman Patrick Dovigi’s Toronto home early Monday morning in what the garbage tycoon believes was a robbery gone wrong.

The alleged billionaire, who now runs the Canadian environmental services company Green For Life Environmental Inc. (GFL), said Monday evening that he was not the target of the shooting at his Rosedale home and that he was out of town at the time of the shooting took place around 1 a.m

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“A guy ran up to the house and tried to break into our house,” Dovegi said in a telephone interview from New York City on Monday evening.

Dovegi’s security guard, who was walking around the house, shouted at the intruder.

“He said, ‘What are you doing?’ and the guy turned around and then fired one shot at the guard and then fired four shots at the door as he ran away.”

The first shot appeared to be aimed at the ground, Dovegi said.

“We have the video,” he said.

“As he ran away, the security guard sort of ran after him. He turned around and shot four times at the front door.”

Dovegi wondered if the intruder was just trying to scare the guard away so he could get to a getaway car. “There was a car on the street with another man in it.”

We are Canadian because we want it to be safe. But I don’t know

The security guard was not injured, Dovegi said. “He’s obviously a little unsettled,” he said.

“Luckily the guy was there. If they had gotten into the house, who knows what they would have taken with them.”

The home has full-time security who works round-the-clock shifts due to the recent number of burglaries in the neighborhood, he said.

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Dovegi said he didn’t believe the armed intruder knew it was his home.

Dovegi asked Monday night whether the shooter was after two Range Rovers parked in his basement in Toronto.

“This has been an ongoing issue in Toronto for some time,” he said.

“It’s pretty scary that this is happening… We’re Canadian because we want it to be safe. But I don’t know, with all these car thefts and all these break-ins on our street, it’s pretty crazy.”

Dovegi emailed his neighbors about the shooting and looked for images of the crime in progress from their security cameras.

“I told them exactly what happened and I said it would be very helpful if you could work with the police to get the photos,” he said.

“They haven’t made any arrests, but they are compiling the footage from the street.”

Former ice hockey star Eric Lindros lives at the end of the same street, Dovegi said, pointing out that the getaway car may have been parked next to Lindros’ house.

“So maybe we have some of the time before he hit the streets,” he said. “They have videos of what looks like the same car. But the police said the problem with these people was that they probably stole the coming car or that they were using a car with stolen license plates.”

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People in the neighborhood are trying to be vigilant, Dovegi said.

“There have been three or four burglaries in the last two months,” he said.

Geoff Beattie, the former boss of private holding company Woodbridge Co. Ltd., the holding company of the powerful Thomson family, lives on the same street in Dovegi.

“He got burglarized right down the street,” Dovegi said. “Something went wrong in Toronto with all these carjackings, carjackings and burglaries. It has been widely publicized, but clearly something needs to be done.”

Dovigi founded his waste management company in 2007 after being drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in 1997 following a brief professional hockey career.

GFL grew rapidly after a series of acquisitions and completed its initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange in March 2020, giving the company a market value of $6.1 billion.

Canadian Business magazine reported Dovigi’s net worth at $1.1 billion.

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