Shocked town mourns

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This article was published 12/11/2010 (5632 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ROBLIN — Her closest friends huddled together late Thursday, sharing their grief and trying to make sense of the tragic shooting death of 16-year-old Meagen Mancheese — the victim of an apparent murder and suicide attempt just a day before.

The warm, quiet and athletic girl was found dead inside her home on the family farm, about 18 kilometres northeast of Roblin, at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

A 17-year-old boy was also inside with what RCMP say was a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

It’s believed the boy made the 911 call. He was airlifted to Health Sciences Centre and is listed in critical condition.

An autopsy confirmed the girl died of a gunshot wound.

On Thursday, as RCMP investigators probed the scene, Meagen’s uncle and grandmother arrived at the home, visibly shattered but needing to be there to honour the teen.

“I said a prayer for her,” said Jamie Maliteare, while standing at the end of the long driveway leading to the home. “I can say that I’m here for her, here for her family, her parents… just everybody that loves her.”

Rose Paul spoke briefly about the granddaughter she lost.

“She was a very beautiful girl and everybody just loved her. She was very responsible and loving.”

Meagen’s death has stunned the community of roughly 2,500 residents northwest of Riding Mountain National Park near the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border.

Many of her closest friends gathered all day Thursday to comfort one another, said the mother of one of the friends.

“There are quite a few of them, together, in town, because they couldn’t go to Meagen’s,” Rose Funk said.

Funk said the group was at a private home of a friend, watching coverage of Meagen’s death on evening newscasts.

“It was heartbreaking for them,” Funk said, adding the tight-knit group of teens would probably stay together all night for support.

Outside the private circle of grief, friends set up a public outlet for people to offer condolences. A Facebook page in memory of Meagen had drawn hundreds of comments by Thursday evening.

Wiping away tears, Maliteare thanked the community for its support.

“I’d like to thank everybody for helping our family, online and in person and on the phone,” he said.

Meagen attended Goose Lake High School and played basketball and softball.

Maliteare called his niece “my fishing buddy,” saying the two would “fish anywhere we could.”

“All the world loved her and that’s why it’s so shocking,” Maliteare said.

Roblin’s Deputy Mayor Tom Bowley said the incident has left the whole community shocked.

“There are some people that are taking it very hard. Students are taking it very hard. People all around, not just right in town,” he said.

“It’s hard to explain when something like this happens. It’s supposed to happen someplace else. Not here.”

Maliteare told reporters he doesn’t know the other teen who was shot.

“We don’t know who’s accused. It doesn’t matter who did it… it’s done. And we miss her.”

Jack Sullivan, superintendent of the Mountain View School Division, said he was as much in the dark about the official version of events as everyone, since the RCMP had provided no information to school officials.

Goose Lake High School was closed Thursday for Remembrance Day, but Sullivan said a team of counsellors would be at the school this morning to help students cope with the incident.

The Prairie Mountain RCMP, Brandon and Dauphin major crime services, RCMP Winnipeg serious crime unit and the Dauphin and Winnipeg forensic identification units are still investigating.

Anyone with more information is being asked to call Roblin RCMP at (204) 937-8054.

 

— with files from The Canadian Press

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca