The mother of two young brothers killed in what police are calling a double murder-suicide says she has “no answers” following the tragic loss of her two boys.
Tracy Stark attended a candlelight vigil outside her home in Whitecourt, Alta. Tuesday night, a day after her sons Ryder MacDougall, 13, and his brother, 11-year-old Radek, were found dead in their father Corry MacDougall’s home.
Stark and her husband Brent, the boys’ stepfather, arrived at the home in Spruce Grove, Alta., on Monday night. When no one answered the door, the couple called 911. Police have confirmed that the boys were killed by their father, who took his own life after the double murder.
Barely able to speak through tears, Tracy Stark addressed her sons’ young friends, many of whom attended the Tuesday night vigil wearing hockey jerseys and holding candles.
“All these kids – I just don’t have an answer,” Tracy Stark said looking out into the crowd. “I know Ryder and Radek are looking down … and I know that they’re going to give you strength to get through this as they do, me.”
Brent Stark also spoke at vigil, thanking people for their support. “Thank you Whitecourt, for everything.”
Friends and family who attended the vigil said it was important to be there for the family.
“They’re just extra-special people,” family friend Rodney Koscielny told CTV Edmonton. “And they need our support and they’re never going to get over this for their lifetime, but we need to help them get through that.”
Brady Augot said Ryder was “like a best friend.
“I was talking to him … the night before he died and he said he was coming home to play shinny, to play hockey with me.”
Augot added: “Ryder somehow always knew how to make someone laugh, all the time, just so competitive with me and everything that we did.”
In an earlier interview with CTV Edmonton, Brent Stark said that his hockey-loving stepsons’ “beautiful young lives were snuffed out by a coward.” He called the boys “hard-working” in their sports activities and “good young kids that had a lot of life left in them and were taken way too soon.”
Brent Stark said Tracy was the boys’ primary caregiver, but allowed the children to move in with their father for the school year, at their request, so they may pursue sports in earnest.
The stepfather also said that there were no warning signs prior to the deaths. Guns were seen being removed from the home by officers, but police would not confirm whether they had anything to do with the deaths.
Outside the Spruce Grove home on Tuesday, classmates, teammates and strangers left hockey sticks, toys and cards in a growing memorial.
Another vigil has been planned for Thursday at a hockey arena.
Friends and neighbours say they are struggling to comprehend the scope of the tragedy. A trauma team has been set up at the boys’ school, Greystone Centennial Middle School, in order to help staff and students cope. The school lowered its flag to remember the brothers. Some students stayed home for school on Tuesday to cope with the grief.
With files from CTV Edmonton
