Both sides of the border have whack jobs. Update to this previous story.
Right now, La Loche is devastated,” said an emotional First Nation chief after at least four people — including two relatives of the alleged shooter along with a 23-year-old teacher — were killed, two were in critical condition and a suspect was taken into custody after a daytime shooting at the community school in the northern Saskatchewan town.
Marie Janvier was one of the victims of a shooting in La Loche, Saskatchewan on Jan. 22, 2016“The community usually pulls together really strong in times like this,” said Clearwater River Dene Nation Chief Teddy Clark on Friday.
“Both Clearwater and La Loche, a lot of people are in shock. This is something that you only see on TV most of the time.”
Marie Janvier, a 23-year-old teacher, was shot dead by the alleged gunman after shooting two of his relatives, family said.
Janvier’s family said they could not believe that Marie had been killed.
“Her smile will light up the room on the darkest day,” said Sandie Janvier in a Facebook message, calling her the “sweetest caring person … We lost a loving sister today.”
Cousin Patrick Wagenaar said he could not have imagined something like that taking place.
“You’d never expect things like that to happen so close to home,” he said.
“She was a really good storyteller, she was really charming. She had really good attention to detail,” he said, fighting back tears.
Those in the remote Dene town of about 3,000 people on the eastern shore of Lac La Loche were left searching for answers and details but found themselves with only more questions in the wake of the shooting, approximately six hours north of Saskatoon.
A student who was just returning from lunch when shots were fired at the school said his friends ran past him urging him to get out.
“Run, bro, run!” Noel Desjarlais-Thomas, 16, recalled his friends saying to him as they fled the Dene building of La Loche Community School.
“There’s a shotgun! There’s a shotgun! They were just yelling to me. And then I was hearing those shots, too, so of course I started running.”
Desjarlais-Thomas forwarded to The Canadian Press a screenshot of a chilling exchange that had taken place on social media a short time before the shooting between a young male and his friends.
“Just killed 2 ppl,” wrote the young male. “Bout to shoot ip the school.”
“Why?” asked a friend. “Why?”[…]
RCMP confirmed five deaths early in the day but at a press conference Friday night in Regina, Chief Supt. Maureen Levy said confirmed deaths at that point were at four. “With a tragedy such as this, a lot of information going back and forth,” she said when noting the error.