Court date set for teen suspect in La Loche mass shooting

The 17-year-old, who can not be identified under Canadian law, was indicted on four counts of first-degree or premeditated murder and seven counts of attempted murder, as well as a weapons charge.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superintendent Grant St Germaine said nine people were shot in the school, including a female teacher’s aide who died at the scene, and a male teacher who died in hospital.

Still, Aboriginal communities will ask hard questions about gun security after the shooting, said Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations Chief Bobby Cameron, who represents more than 70 Indian bands in the province. Police authorities received a call after the reports of shots fired at school.

RCMP Commanding Officer Brenda Butterworth-Carr said that, when officers arrived at the school, they saw the front door had been shot open. He is due in court next week. La Loche is a community of less than 3,000 people.

Leonard Montgrand, the centre’s executive director, said there is significant demand for the small pool of jobs and training programs in La Loche, pointing to a recent federally funded heavy-equipment operator training program that drew more than 100 applications for just eight spots. “It is a huge impact on the community of La Loche”. It’s a part of changing times.

Unemployment stands above 20 percent in the community, suicide and addiction rates are high, homes are overcrowded and family violence is rife in the community that is mostly Metis, a culture with French and Aboriginal roots.

Residents lit candles and placed flowers at a makeshift memorial outside the school. “According to Fox News, school and university campus shooting is rare to happened in Canada”.

An unnamed teenager was suspected of being behind the shooting spree that left at least four dead and injured at least seven, informed the police on Saturday. They rush to the Dene Crescent home and find Drayden Fontaine, 13, and Dayne Fontaine, 17, dead.

“I don’t know how to explain him, but he was always in his room”, she said.

“No words will bring my babies back”, Dr. Shefali Thakore, who used to work in the community, recalls Fontaine saying to her about how she feels about the suspect. “She was a fantastic person”.

“So many of those times that those boys joked around with him about his ears and whatnot, he didn’t get up and say, ‘You boys stop talking to me like this, it’s hurting my feelings.’ He just bottled it up”. He said she was kind and patient with children and planned to get her teaching degree.

“The kids loved having her around”, Lemaigre said. “What steps will she take to guarantee that that practice will end… not just in the days and weeks ahead but in the years to come?”

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