Alleged bandit escaped CAMH while on pass
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Parkdale-area residents were on edge Tuesday after a man on a pass from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health allegedly robbed a convenience store and a bakery where a female employee was attacked by a bandit seeking cash.
On Saturday afternoon, Toronto Police issued an alert that Kleiton Da Silva, 44, had left the custody of the mental facility in the Queen St.-Ossington Ave. area. Da Silva was found not criminally responsible of a second-degree murder a decade ago and was at CAMH in treatment.
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It’s alleged that he robbed a convenience store on Saturday evening and the Venezia Bakery at 114 Ossington St. — just blocks north of CAMH — early Sunday.
Chloe Pacey, who has two children under the age of three, said she worries about safety in the area.
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“I tend not to walk around there,” Pacey said, even though CAMH is just blocks from her home.
“I just have concerns about safety with the area.”
Amamda, who works at a clothing store near the bakery that was robbed on Sunday, told the Toronto Sun she, too, has safety concerns.
“If people can walk away unsupervised it’s a concern,” she said.
Surveillance video of Sunday’s bakery robbery shows a man looking at baked goods. He disappears from the video while allegedly roughing up a bakery employee.
Toronto Police arrested Da Silva Sunday and he’s now in custody.
“This incident is very concerning and our thoughts go out to the victims,” CAMH said in a statement, adding patient and public safety is a top priority.
CAMH says this patient is under the jurisdiction of the Ontario Review Board and was on an indirectly supervised pass on hospital grounds when he escaped. The hospital says it is reviewing the incident.
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“As this matter is now before the courts, we will decline further comment,” CAMH said.
Violent patients escaping from CAMH is nothing new.
In December of 2018, police issued a public safety alert for Delroy Flowers — described as violent and dangerous — who was in CAMH custody. It was the third time in three years he walked away from the hospital.
Thomas Brailsford left the facility twice — in 2014 and 2015 — where he was in custody for decapitating his mother.
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