Mother of slain football player reflects on a life cut short

With her youngest child gone forever following a fatal Sunday night shooting in Centretown, Lordy Exantus finds herself second-guessing the things she did or did not do during her son's unexpectedly brief life.

Quentin Dorsainvil, 17, was a promising football player born in Ottawa who dreamed of playing in the NFL and transferred earlier this year to a high school in Miami in the hopes of securing a scholarship for college ball. 

Known as "Q" to his friends and family, Dorsainvil had a healthy appetite for food and life, according to Exantus. Before his recent Sept. 6 birthday, they talked about getting him a cake, but he wound up going out for supper with friends.

"And now he's not with me. I cannot give him his cake," Exantus said with a heavy sigh from her home in Kanata on Thursday, adding that her own appetite has disappeared in the days after her son's death. 

"I don't eat nothing because every time they bring me something, it's like I see Quentin."

On Sunday, Exantus encouraged Dorsainvil to go to the concert at the Bronson Centre. Dorsainvil's older brother was among those performing, she said. 

Both brothers were shot near the centre shortly after leaving the event, according to Exantus. 

Dorsainvil's brother was released from the hospital, but Dorsainvil was pronounced dead. 

If she'd known that night would be the last time she saw him, she would have not gone out, she said. 

"I don't know how I'm gonna live, if I'm gonna be OK. I don't know," Exantus said.

Person facing weapons charges

Ottawa Police have not charged anyone for Dorsainvil's death. 

One person was taken into custody after the shooting and later charged with firearm-related offences.

"The investigation into [that] person's involvement in the homicide continues," the police force said via email on Thursday. 

Exantus said she doesn't want other mothers to feel the same grief — and wonders how someone could take her son's life in their hands and "finish everything."

"Quentin [is] never gonna do nothing in his life again," she said of his dreams of making it big.

Family videos shared by Exantus show a young man who liked to dance and and vibe out happily on the computer. 

But Dorsainvil was so focused on his sports career that when his family brought him to Florida, he asked that they take his PlayStation 5 console back with them to Canada. 

"He wanted to focus on his career, on his life," Exantus said. 

Several members of Dorsainvil's family — he was one of four siblings — attended Sunday's concert.

The outing's deadly outcome has left Exantus shaken.

"You leave your house with your kids and then you come back without him," she said.

"When we go out or when our kids go out, they have to come back."

Moment of silence before the game

Exantus is now planning her son's funeral amid an outpouring of support from the community. 

A large condolence card filled with loving messages to "Q" sits in her living room.

Dorsainvil's former high school in Ottawa, Holy Trinity High School, is displaying photos of him inside its chapel. 

The Kanata Knights, one of the local teams Dorsainvil played for, will hold a minute of silence before its peewee- and bantam-level games on Friday night, team president Tina Stevens said.

One of Dorsainvil 's cousins plays on the bantam team, she added. 

The team is also considering launching a bursary or scholarship in Dorsainvil's honour.

"Just something so that his name doesn't get lost or forgot along the way," Stevens said.