 A Toronto forensics officer returns a wheelchair to the garage where police found the body of Ed Kling on Tuesday night. (Rob Lamberti, Sun Media)
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Neighbours are stunned and shaken, but they understand that Ed and Jessie Kling were suffering.
"It was unbelievable shock. I still don't want to believe it happened," next-door neighbour Jim Patsakos said. "You would never think this would happen to these people. It would never cross your mind."
Jessie, 81, who was bedridden and suffering from cancer, which claimed her sister this past summer, was found shot to death in a bedroom Tuesday night.
Her husband, Ed, 83, a World War II veteran and retired teacher who was suffering from a heart condition, was found dead in the garage of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Jessie's body was found by a daughter, and police found Ed.
The couple had three daughters and a son and several grandchildren. One daughter, Susan, committed suicide about 20 years ago, one neighbour said.
The Klings were known for their colourful blooms in the small but well-kept flower beds, but neighbours said Ed didn't seem to take care of his precious flowers this summer as well as he did in summers past.
Neighbours didn't know anything about the long barrelled shotgun and handguns Toronto Police took out of the red brick Pharmacy Ave. bungalow. Police also took a blood soaked patio chair out of the garage.
"How are you going to survive when everything hits you?" a neighbour asked. "You can only feel sad for them."
But when they were well, they lit up the neighbourhood, area residents say.
"They were always out there in their garden and talking to everybody who walked by," Patsakos said.
But they were slowing down, the neighbour of 20 years said.
Patsakos said he spoke with the couple's son Barry, of California, during Thanksgiving, who said his elderly parents were "going downhill pretty quick."
Nevertheless, there was no indication of a pending tragedy, he said.
"They were getting old and getting on in years," but they seemed to be themselves, Patsakos said. "You would never expect that."
Resident Lorraine Sutter said Jessie, who was a stay-at-home mom, was recently bedridden by the cancer.
Neighbour Ramon Smith, who had known the couple for 48 years, said Ed was a quiet man.
"He was a very quiet person and she was really out-going. You couldn't get much out of Ed. He says hello, how are you and good-bye. But she would talk forever. Some neighbours are taking it pretty hard."
