An off-duty firefighter has died after being stabbed in the head “without provocation” several times at a Danforth café early Saturday morning, Toronto police said.

Dominic Parker, 45, died from his wounds in hospital after he was attacked at 1:18 a.m. at Rotana Café in the Danforth and Coxwell Avenues area. Mr. Parker was taken to St. Michael’s Hospital around 2 a.m., and died from severe head wounds shortly after midnight Sunday. Police have charged a 23-year-old man with first-degree murder.

“The family is completely devastated to have their husband and father completely ripped out of their lives so violently and so fast,” said Jay Michaels, the media representative of Mr. Parker’s family.

Mr. Parker had been married for 23 years to his high school sweetheart and has two daughters, 18 and 19, both of whom are in their first year at Concordia University in Montreal.

The family is completely devastated to have their husband and father completely ripped out of their lives so violently

Aside from being a firefighter in Markham, Mr. Parker also worked as a freelance set designer and had just finished shooting a Christmas commercial Friday night around 8 p.m., said Mr. Michaels. He and two friends from the production crew decided to have a couple of beers at a nearby bar and after several hours they parted ways. Mr. Parker went to pick up his bike, which he had parked on Danforth Avenue.

He decided to stop by Rotana Café first, where he knows the owner. It was while sitting on a couch sipping tea that Mr. Parker was stabbed repeatedly in the head by a stranger.

“Police are calling it a completely random act of violence,” Mr. Michaels said.

It’s unclear how many times Mr. Parker was stabbed but his most serious injury was a knife wound that went through the back of his head and through his brain, Mr. Michaels said.

Doctors surgically removed part of Mr. Parker’s skull to relieve some pressure but his wounds proved too grave.

Nabil Hurhuy, 23, was arrested in Scarborough Saturday afternoon and charged with first-degree murder, two counts of carrying a concealed weapon and one count of carrying a dangerous weapon.

At the age of 40, Mr. Parker decided to fulfill his life-long dream of becoming a firefighter and signed up with the Markham Fire and Emergency Services.

“It just shows what kind of guy he was,” Mr. Michaels said. “He was a guy that was doing something every day that would make him smile.”

He traveled often with his wife, a travel agent, and two daughters.

The Markham fire department is taking the lead for funeral arrangements, which will be held Friday at Markham community church The Bridge. A memorial service will be held at the Balmy Beach Club.

“One thing they do have is the outpouring of support from the Markham fire department and the film community,” said Mr. Michaels of the family’s condition. “They haven’t been without a hug since this happened.”

The evil that exists in the heart of these people, the total lack of respect for the lives of others, is not something that can be rationalized away. If we fail to recognize the source and reasons behind these senseless and cruel, inhumane acts, they will continue and they will escalate.

Radical Islam is that source. These acts are never committed by other groups or individuals. Only one group feels justified and desirous of this kind of brutality. We all see it. We all know it. Eventually, we will all have to fight and eradicate it.