Kingston man, 47, charged with two counts of murder, attempted murder

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Published Sep 14, 2024  •  5 minute read

The Integrated Care Hub and adjacent encampment are fenced off and guarded by police the morning after two people died in violent attacks in Kingston, Ont. on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. Photo by Elliot Ferguson /POSTMEDIA

A 47-year-old Kingston man has been charged with second-degree murder and attempted murder after three people were attacked Thursday morning near the Montreal Street encampment.

Andre Wareham has been charged with second-degree murders of Taylor Wilkinson, 38, and John Hood, 41, both of Kingston, and one count of attempted murder by striking the victim with a hammer. He appeared in bail court Friday and was remanded into provincial custody. He has been forbidden from contacting 24 people.

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Court documents list Wareham’s address as an apartment near the crime scene.

Chief of Kingston Police Scott Fraser said Wareham was known to police and frequented the Integrated Care Hub and encampment area.

The ICH has been closed as police investigate the large scene.

On Thursday just before 10:40 a.m., emergency services were called to the encampment and area around the ICH where two men had been stabbed. Shortly after, crews and hub staff were called to help a woman on the sidewalk along Montreal Street who had been struck with a hammer.

The man accused of attacking the three victims left the hammer next to the woman and ran across Montreal Street to an empty lot. Kingston Police negotiated with the man for his safe surrender for nearly six hours before he was finally taken into custody.

The victims were treated at the scene and then rushed to Kingston General Hospital by Frontenac Paramedics with life-threatening injuries. The final, living victim remained in critical condition. Her name was withheld to protect her privacy.

“(The injuries) are consistent with injuries one would receive from an edged weapon and a blunt object,” Kingston Police Const. Anthony Colangeli said.

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Staff at the Integrated Care Hub locked down their building after the attacks. Ted Robinson, Board chair of Trellis HIV and Community Care which operates the hub, said its staff were some of the first to respond and to give first aid to the victims.

“They just did everything they could to support the people who were injured and the people who saw what was going on,” Robinson said.

He said their priority now was keeping their staff and those they served as safe as possible.

“It appears the ICH staff is doing a great job supporting their folks, from a police aspect right now, our focus is on ending this peacefully, then we can shift focus on to the victims and the community as a whole,” Colangeli said.

Colangeli said police were examining two to three different scenes where the attacks took place. Hub staff said two of the scenes were within the encampment, while a resident in the area witnessed one attack on Montreal Street, where blood has stained the pavement.

In a photo provided to the Kingston Whig-Standard, one of the victims was seen lying on the eastern sidewalk of Montreal Street with Kingston Police and another woman providing first aid. A hammer with a black handle was on the ground next to her.

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Linda McGinness, who lives north of the Integrated Care Hub, said that at about 10:44 a.m. she heard a commotion and scream outside her front door. Looking out she saw a woman who had been riding a push scooter had been struck in the head with a hammer. She was screaming and bleeding profusely before being given medical attention.

A man with a dog was across the street yelling at her.

“He kept saying, ‘I’m sick of these people,'” McGinness said.

In a video provided to the Whig-Standard, another witness was heard yelling at the man, “You hit her with a hammer!”

Staff from the Integrated Care Hub ran over to help the woman as McGinness recorded video of the man before he ran into the bush across the street, she said.

“We never want to see this happen, but our goal right now is just to end this as peacefully as possible,” Colangeli said. He added later that he appreciated it was a very upsetting incident, and one nobody wanted to see in their community.

“It’s an awful day,” Robinson said. “Our staff is feeling this quite intensely.”

He said the staff at the Integrated Care Hub had undoubtedly been traumatized by what they’d witnessed, but that the incident was isolated.

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“I just hope that people will not rush to any sort of judgment,” Robinson said. “We know what has been going on provincially, as far as places like the Integrated Care Hub, that have consumption treatment sites and that are centres for people who use substances, who are unhoused, and I just hope that people won’t rush to judgement, (assuming) that this horrible situation, is a reflection of that situation. Because that’s a much bigger, provincial, social, societal issue, and this is completely separate from that in my mind.”

Mayor Bryan Paterson did not seem to see it the same way, calling for the Integrated Care Hub and the safe injection site to close immediately.

“I am absolutely horrified by the situation unfolding — this is an utterly senseless act of violence,” said Paterson, who is also a member of the Kingston Police Services Board.

“It is no longer safe for people to use (Consumption and Treatment Services) and we need to respond,” Paterson said. “We as a city have been talking about the dangers of this encampment in and around the safe injection site for almost three years. There are community partners and advocates who have fought the city on every attempt we’ve made to clear this encampment and ensure public safety for those living there. I will not stand by and wait until more people die — enough is enough.

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“We need to clear the encampment, close this safe injection site and the (Integrated Care Hub) until we can find a better way to support our most vulnerable residents and work with the province to provide treatment and housing solutions.”

Robinson said Paterson’s response was what he feared.

“I hope leaders in our community will be as cautious in what they say and not advocate for things that will greater harm,” he said.

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With files from Elliot Ferguson

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