Waterloo Regional Police say that the case of a man killed with an arrow in Kitchener’s north end is now being treated as a homicide.
That announcement came Tuesday afternoon, nearly 33 hours after Michael Gibbon was found on the lawn of a Margaret Avenue home with a chest wound.
Police said from the outset that they considered Gibbon’s death to be suspicious, but Tuesday’s statement marked the first time they specifically said they believed it to be a homicide and not a self-inflicted injury.
Detectives have received “significant information” from the community since launching their investigation, police said, and will continue to follow up leads and search the area.
However, police also cautioned in a press release that “the motivation for this attack is unknown and police are not ruling out any possibility,” including that the attack could have been a random event.
Earlier in the day, police had said that they were hoping to hear from the public with more information about the shooting.
“There has to be someone out there that knows who was responsible for this incident,” said Waterloo Regional Police Staff Sgt. Mike Haffner.
As of Tuesday afternoon, no arrests had been made.
Police continued to search the Margaret Avenue area, including Breithaupt Park and Gibbon’s home on nearby Guelph Street.
“They’re just searching for any evidence that would be able to be used for the investigation,” Haffner said.
Alban Dombroskie told CTV News he’d lived next door to Gibbon for 19 years.
He said his neighbour seemed to spend a lot of time alone, and left for work in the evenings.
“He wasn’t much of a talker,” Dombroskie said.
Family members said Monday night that they were in shock at the death of Gibbon, who was the youngest of five siblings.
