Jaydon Flett
APTN National News
LA LOCHE, Sask. – Police in La Loche, Sask., have charged a 17-year-old boy with four counts of first-degree murder following a mass shooting in the community which sits about 600 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon.
The boy, who cannot be named under youth criminal legislation, is also charged with seven counts of attempted murder in relation to those who were injured when he allegedly opened fire at the La Loche Community school Friday.
The RCMP have identified the four people killed in Friday’s attack.
Dayne Fontaine, 17, and Drayden Fontaine, 13 were found dead at a residence in a residence in the community. Teacher Adam Wood, 35, and school assistant Marie Janvier, 21 were shot at the school.
Wood, originally from Uxbridge, Ont., had only moved to the northern community this past September to begin his first year of teaching.
Darius Piche, 17, a La Loche student, told APTN National News that Wood was his math teacher. He said Wood was helpful and supportive in the classroom.
“If you didn’t give him a hard time, he didn’t give you a hard time,” said Piche. “He was that kind of teacher.”
Piche added that Janvier had been his tutor and he was supposed to be in the same classroom as her at the time of the shooting.
Piche says that the suspect police currently have in custody had been a friend of his since kindergarten.
“It’s like, one day, he’s all good. And the next, he’s doing all this? Taking innocent lives,” he said.
APTN National News obtained a copy of the messages where the 17 year-old alleged gunman told a group of friends, “I’m done with life.”
Piche was one of the friends who was in that chat group. When he asked the suspect what was wrong, he said that he “just killed two people” and that he was on his way to “shoot up” the school.
“I thought he was joking around when he said that. It wasn’t even expected at all,” said Piche. “He just showed up, he just looked mad.”
Piche said he went to ask his friend what was bothering him, and that’s when he noticed the suspect grab a shotgun from the backseat of a vehicle parked outside the school.
“I had seen him pull out that gun and I ran back inside. I told everyone to run,” he said.
Piche said he doesn’t know who the vehicle belonged to, but it has since been removed from the school property.
Piche added that Dayne and Drayden Fontaine are related to the suspect.
The RCMP would not not confirm the relationship.
“There’s never been a school shooting of this magnitude in the country,” said RCMP Supt. Grant St. Germaine during a press conference Saturday.
As of Saturday, the RCMP was unable to confirm whether or not there was any motive behind the shootings, or if any of the victims had been targeted.
