‘I’m going to miss my girls very, very much’

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This article was published 03/12/2023 (699 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Tears rolled down Beverley Beardy’s face as she paused in silence in front of a memorial overflowing with flowers on the steps of the West Broadway home where her two daughters were killed one week ago.

“I’m going to miss my girls very, very much,” Beardy told reporters.

The Sunday vigil at the Langside Street home was organized by the Bear Clan to honour the victims of the November 26 shooting. Beardy sisters Crystal, 34, and Stephanie, 33, were killed alongside two men, Melelek Lesikel, 29, and Dylan Lavallee. A fifth man remains in hospital in critical condition.

Little is known about what happened leading up to the shooting, including why the group were at the home or the connection between them and the shooter. On Friday, police announced the arrest of their sole suspect: Jamie Randy Felix, 32, was on supervised probation for a 2021 assault. He had served 11 years in the Canadian Armed Forces as a corporal.

The news of an arrest came as a relief to the Beardy family. They’d spent days worried the shooter might harm them, or others.

“We are happy that someone is going to be brought to justice for this brutal crime,” said Roberta Owen, Stephanie and Crystal’s aunt.

But she worries family will never get the answers they desperately need — about how and why this happened.

“I try not break down and I try to be strong for my sister,” Owen said, tearing up as she stood next to Beverley. “It’s really, really hard.”

The women had just returned from a sacred fire burning for Crystal and Stephanie in Lake St. Martin First Nation, about 250 kilometers north of Winnipeg, where the family is from. A funeral is planned for next week in Winnipeg.

Owen said her family is praying for the man still in hospital. She thanked everyone who came out to the vigil.

Throughout Sunday afternoon, dozens of community members laid candles, red roses, three teddy bears and a reindeer stuffed animal on the steps of the three-storey home. Some hugged and wiped away tears. A group of women sang and drummed. A large white banner strung up between two trees replaced last week’s police tape. It listed the names of the four people killed and read: “You are missed. You are loved.”

“Wishing you souls a safe journey. Your lives matter,” one person wrote on the banner.

Melelek Lesikel’s partner, Gardina Prince, said the vigil was helping her cope with the loss.

“The last week, I’ve just been crying and breaking down,” she said. “Thinking that I’m seeing him on the bus or thinking that I’m going to see him come down the street.”

Prince said she knew all the victims. She knew the Beardy sisters growing up and knew Dylan Lavallee through family connections.

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“We’re pulling together as a community and that’s what we need,” Prince said.

“I hope that people start pulling together and showing love and compassion — instead of shooting and stabbing each other.”

“Mele,” as she called him, was her best friend. She will remember him for his quirky sense of humour and the dreams and goals he hoped to achieve. He was from Kenya and moved to Canada to attend school with the goal of becoming a welder.

“He didn’t get a chance to do that,” Prince said. “His life was cut short.”

katrina.clarke@freepress.mb.ca

Katrina Clarke
Investigative reporter

Katrina Clarke is an investigative reporter at the Winnipeg Free Press. Katrina holds a bachelor’s degree in politics from Queen’s University and a master’s degree in journalism from Western University. She has worked at newspapers across Canada, including the National Post and the Toronto Star. She joined the Free Press in 2022. Read more about Katrina.

Every piece of reporting Katrina produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.