Daniel Randall Levac Thunder Bay's 9th homicide victim
19-year-old charged with second degree murder in stabbing death
A 20-year-old student at Dennis Franklin Cromarty First Nations high school was killed in front of a Thunder Bay movie theatre on Friday night.
Thunder Bay Police have charged a 19-year-old with second degree murder after the stabbing in front of SilverCity.
The victim, Daniel Randall Levac, was from Sachigo Lake First Nation, according to a bulletin on the Northern Nishnawbe Education Council (NNEC) website. NNEC runs the First Nations' high school in Thunder Bay.
"Daniel will be sadly missed by all those who knew him," the bulletin said.
In an interview with CBC News, NNEC executive director Norma Kejick said Levac had been a student at DFC for four years. She would see his smiling face in the halls but didn't know him personally.
"From what everyone is saying, he was a very polite gentleman," Kejick said. "He was just fun to be around."
Victim and accused not known to each other
"Numerous 911 calls were received at 10:25 p.m. [Friday] about a disturbance between two males that escalated to a weapons call," said a police news release yesterday. "The first officers were on the scene within minutes and found a male in medical distress. Officers began CPR until the ambulance arrived. The male was transported to the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre where he was pronounced dead."
The victim and the accused were not known to each other, according to police, and alcohol was a factor in the incident.
Police said they found a male matching the description of the accused on the walking bridge about a block from the theatre.
Shane Patrick Ashpanaquestcum, from Summer Beaver (Nibinamik) remains in police custody and has been charged with second degree murder. His next court appearance is Oct. 14.
Supports for students
NNEC is planning to send students from Sachigo Lake home to their remote First Nation so they can grieve with their families, but bad weather forced flights to be cancelled on the weekend.
"So we've been gathering with our Sachigo students, we've been comforting them and staying close to them as much as we can," Kejick said. Counsellors and First Nations leaders have been visiting the students at the school.
"Students are in shock still," she said. "Students can't believe what has happened. A lot of our students are grieving and just not saying a whole lot right now. It's still too fresh."
Kejick said the bad weather is also causing problems for Levac's parents, Simon Tait and Myra Chikane, who have been unable to get to Thunder Bay from Sachigo Lake.
"The bad weather is delaying a lot of the activities that would normally take place at a time like this," she said.
An impromptu vigil at the movie theatre on Saturday night, organized by one of the staff members at the First Nations high school, has helped a lot, Kejick said.
"I'm overwhelmed by how the community reached out to us," she said, adding the support from staff at the theatre, was especially heartening. "It was good for all of us to be there together."