Police rappel down building to arrest stabbing suspect on balcony

TORONTO – A high-profile architect involved in a NATO project has been charged in a brutal stabbing after a dramatic arrest that saw officers rappel down a midtown Toronto building.

Police arrested Ellis Kirkland, 60, on a 27th-floor balcony on Thursday afternoon after using ropes to go down the side of a building.

She is charged her with attempted murder, aggravated assault, assault with a weapon and weapons dangerous to the public peace, and was due in court later Friday.

Kirkland is accused of repeatedly stabbing the doorman of an apartment building with a kitchen knife Thursday morning, leaving him with life-threatening injuries.

An internationally renowned infrastructure specialist, Kirkland is the former vice-president of the NATO Association of Canada, according to the organization’s website.

She is also the chair and founder of the NATO Paxbuild Economic Platform, a special project run by the organization to promote peace and security through economic stability, the site says.

She was also the first woman to serve as president of the Ontario Architecture Association.

(The Canadian Press, CFRB)