The lack of answers in the death of Michael Gibbon represents a risk to public safety, Waterloo Regional Police Chief Bryan Larkin said Wednesday.
“I think that there’s a real threat to public safety in the sense that we don’t have a definitive course or a definitive direction as to where the investigation is heading,” Larkin told reporters.
Later in the day, police released an image of a man sought in connection with the death of Gibbon, who was found on the front lawn of a Kitchener home having been shot in the chest with an arrow.
The man is not a suspect, police said, but was in the Margaret Avenue area Monday morning and may have information that can help the investigation progress.
He is described as six feet tall and likely in his 40s, with an olive complexion, a muscular build and dark eyes.
He has “bushy, dark” eyebrows, a large nose and dark hair that falls below his ears, police said, and was seen wearing a dark shirt, khaki pants, hiker-style shoes and a dark backpack.
Anyone with information about the man’s identity is asked to contact police or Crime Stoppers.
Investigators have talked to hundreds of people since the 60-year-old Gibbon was found on the lawn of a home on Margaret Avenue, across from Breithaupt Park.
That includes the drivers of more than 250 vehicles stopped on Margaret early Wednesday morning as the search for Michael Gibbon’s killer entered its third day,
They have not made any arrests, or been able to determine whether the attack was random or targeted.
A command post has also been set up on nearby Pinewood Place.
Officers were seen in the area Wednesday, looking through backyards and bushes.
Nick Trask lives on the property where Gibbon was found. He says his mother and a neighbour spotted the man on the lawn.
“They both rushed over and started seeing if he was OK, and saw the arrow sticking out of him,” Trask said in an interview.
His mother went inside to call 911, he said, then brought a blanket for Gibbon and tried to comfort him until an ambulance arrived.
“He did tell them his name, and that’s about it,” Trask said.
“He was going in and out of consciousness.”
Trask said that neither he nor his mother knew Gibbon, and he may have been trying to get to their house for help because their outside light was on.
Larkin said that police would be “relentless” in their pursuit of answers in the case.
“We are dedicating as many resources as we possibly can … but people need to be patient in homicide investigations,” he said.
“We don’t turn these things around overnight.”
Police will continue to keep an enhanced presence in the area around Margaret Avenue and Gibbon’s home on Guelph Street, Larkin said.