Blaze victim was a 'recluse'
Officials working to identify man known only as 'Abu,' thought to live at burned-out shop
Apr 14, 2008 04:30 AM

A man found dead amidst the charred debris of a burned-out Etobicoke shop Saturday was as much a mystery to locals as he is to police.

The man is believed to have owned the building at 3331 Lake Shore Blvd. W., west of Kipling Ave. It is thought he lived in the basement. Signs at the address identified it as Hamlet.

Though decades ago the place may have been a store, the 75 firefighters and 18 trucks called to the scene around 12:15 a.m. Friday found an abode crammed floor to ceiling with personal property and barred with metal mesh, heavy-duty locks and multiple doors.

To fight the blaze, firefighters were forced to punch holes in the concrete walls of the residence.

Officials are struggling to identify the small-framed man known only as Abu, described by neighbours as being in his 60s and possibly of East Indian origin. He was sometimes seen pulling a wagon full of trinkets along the street.

"We'd heard from neighbours that he came and went, so we don't know whether he was the owner, an occupant or a tenant," said Toronto Fire Capt. Adrian Ratushniak.

Bert Bell, a retired owner of a nearby antiques shop, said over the course of the past 15 years he'd sometimes get coffee with Abu, yet never once entered his store.

"He'd have a nice chat with me. He had some good humour," Bell said. "Then he'd disappear for a month or two, or you wouldn't see him for six months."

Bell said Abu, who once told him he'd had a job at a Toronto hardware store, bartered with him for goods and also repaired several clocks for him.

No one could recall ever seeing the dusty and dark-windowed Hamlet open or running as a business, though speculation about what it sold ranges from used books and comics to trinkets.

It's believed to have existed since at least the 1960s, said Long Branch BIA secretary Liz Porritt.

"Nobody ever saw the man," Porritt said. "He never came to our meetings."

Owners of nearby Used Books Paradise said the man would retrieve old books from their garbage.

"He was a recluse, a real character, living in his own world," Natalie Lochwin said. "(The incident) is really kind of tragic."

Police said an autopsy was scheduled for yesterday. The Ontario Fire Marshal's Office has been called, and the fire's cause isn't yet known.

Anyone with information about the man's identity is asked to call Toronto police at 416-808-2222.

With files from Carmen Chai

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/414240