Holiday Attack on Senior Leaves Community in Shock

A community in Kitchener, Ontario is dealing with the emotional loss of a 74-year old neighbour. Hugh Hunter Brown was attacked and killed by an unknown assailant while distributing holiday cards to friends this weekend.

An unidentified male, said to be in his twenties is believed to have attacked the grandfather of three in broad daylight using what is described by police as an “edged weapon”.

"It appears he was out as a wonderful neighbour, trying to deliver some good cheer," when the attack occurred, said Waterloo regional police Inspector Bryan Larkin, quoted by CanWest News Services.

Brown had no known enemies and was distributing the cards as he did every year, to family and friends. Authorities received calls from neighbours reporting a "disturbance" in the area at around 1 p.m. Brown was found unconscious and bleeding and was pronounced dead at the hospital.

"He's a very gentle man, a nice man," said Marilyn Gadbois, a neighbour and longtime friend of Brown to CanWest.

"What happened to him he didn't deserve," said Brown’s son, Michael. "That's the thing that really hurts."

Authorities have engaged in canine searches to locate the suspect, but were unsuccessful.

"We have a brief description of a person wearing a long black coat and a toque who was seen in the community," said Inspector Larkin, but it is unclear whether this individual is a suspect or not.

"We've been working on this all weekend. We've had a presence in that neighbourhood all weekend,” said Waterloo regional police spokesman Olaf Heinzel. “We have detectives canvassing the neighbourhood, speaking to the neighbours and we are conducting a grid search, a patterned search, looking for any signs that the suspect may have left behind."

Results of Brown’s autopsy are to be revealed later today.