Up first was a Sunday morning vigil honouring those who died in Edmonton's worst mass murder. On Monday, 700 people filled the Beulah Alliance Church for Cyndi Duong's funeral.
Tuesday was the emotional clincher – a group memorial service for six of the seven family members who were brutally slain in their north-end home by Phu Lam, an angry man who killed his wife, her parents, her sister, a friend and two children, the youngest being three years old. He also killed Ms. Duong.
While Edmonton's Vietnamese community buries its dead, the police examination into what sparked Mr. Phu's murderous rampage continues. The 53-year-old Mr. Phu was eventually found after he had taken his life in a Fort Saskatchewan restaurant. But what compelled him to gun down his own family and relatives? How could he burst into his home and kill two children?
The answers may never satisfy those now drowning in grief.
The boiling point
Mr. Phu was known to police for being volatile, even dangerous. He had previously threatened his wife, Thuy Tien Truong, saying he was going to shoot her and her family, then kill himself. Experts say Mr. Phu fit the profile of a domestic abuser. He was prone to violence and had choked his wife enough times for her to get an emergency protection order. One of those choke attacks came after he was told DNA testing proved he was not the biological father of his son Elvis. Mr. Phu had declared bankruptcy earlier in the year, with $481,296 in secured and unsecured debt. He also had a gambling addiction. Angry and broke, he saw only one way out.
The investigation
Police initially reported Mr. Phu murdered Ms. Duong first, then headed to his home. That account has been amended to Mr. Phu shooting his family, then proceeding to Ms. Duong’s place. Investigators have said there was a connection between the two families but not one between Mr. Phu and Ms. Duong. Police officials added another layer of mystery when they said Mr. Phu shot seven people, only to pick up two additional children who were inside the home and take them to a relative in north Edmonton. “For whatever reason,” said an Edmonton police officer, “the two children were spared.”
Community in shock
Nine dead, including the shooter. Reaction to the murders was immediate and painful. Before Mr. Phu went amok, neighbours said he seemed to be a nice guy. Then came the yelling between Mr. Phu and his wife that would carry on even when they were outside, disturbing the neighbours. Still, no one suspected Mr. Phu would commit the worst mass murder in Alberta history. “A tragic day for Edmonton,” was how police Chief Rod Knecht described it. At the vigils and funerals, hundreds of people came to share their emotions. Premier Jim Prentice issued a statement that read, “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of those involved at this very difficult time. May they find strength in knowing that Albertans share in their loss.”
In the aftermath
Ms. Duong leaves behind a husband and three children, all of whom are minor hockey players. Teammates of her oldest son are selling helmet stickers in the hope of establishing a trust fund for Ms. Duong’s children. Elvis Lam is being remembered at the Bishop Greschuk school, where grief counselling is available for both students and parents. And there is one final funeral to be held. On Thursday, Viet Nguyen, a friend of Mr. Lam’s wife, will be memorialized.