La Loche school shooting: Teen charged with 4 murders

The teen, whose identity can not be revealed under Canada’s youth justice system, is also facing seven counts of attempted murder and one count of unauthorised possession of a firearm, officials with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said Saturday.

Two brothers, 17-year-old Dayne Fountaine and 13-year-old Drayden, were shot and killed in a home before the gunman headed to La Loche Community School for pupils aged from seven to 12.

In La Loche, which has a population of 2600, 18 people committed suicide over a 4½-year span to January 2010, the StarPhoenix newspaper said last year.

Aboriginal peoples had traversed the area near the Saskatchewan-Alberta border for generations, according to the Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan, but it says the origins of La Loche began with the arrival of fur traders and, later, missionaries.

It happened in the Dene aboriginal community of La Loche – the Dene are a First Nation group who inhabit the northern parts of Canada. “My thoughts and prayers are with all the victims, their families and friends and all the people of the community”, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall said.

A cellphone video taken by one resident and broadcast by the CBC showed students walking away from the school across the snow-covered ground and emergency personnel moving in.

Deegan Park, her boyfriend of three years, said he would have given up the rest of his life just to spend another year with her.

Mr Janvier said police told him the gunman first shot two of his siblings at home then made his way to the school.

La Loche acting Mayor Kevin Janvier said one of the victims was his 23-year-old daughter Marie, a school teacher.

Janvier described her niece as a helpful and caring woman who loved working with children.

About 150 students and staff were in the school when the shootings occurred about 1900GMT Friday. “All of Canada, and I’m sure the world, is behind you”, an emotional Raonic told the crowd. “We feel sadness and remorse but rarely do we use that to fuel change”, Wood’s family said in a statement.

When Piche asked what was wrong, the suspect walked back outside and grabbed a gun from his vehicle, Piche said.

“Everyone is still in shock and disbelief”, Cameron said.

“He noted that quite tragically the United States has more experience with the likes of what we saw in La Loche”, Wall said. “While the lockdown was happening, you could just hear all these gunshots getting closer, [then] getting distant”.

“This community is the epicentre of the most recent tragedy, but it’s a set of issues that this country has to come to grips with and Mr. Trudeau is determined to make that happen and he is also looking forward to an early opportunity when he can visit La Loche personally”, he said.