Sympathies pour in for 'beautiful family torn apart'

Harry, Millie and Daniel Neville-Lake are shown in a family photo.

Emotions ran high as a Brampton, Ont., school was packed with students and community members during a pair of memorials for three children and their grandfather who died over the weekend.

Daniel, Harrison (Harry) and Milagros (Millie) Neville-Lake succumbed to injuries received in a three-vehicle crash in Vaughan, Ont., on Sunday afternoon. The children were aged nine, five and two.

The children's grandfather, 65-year-old Gary Neville, was also killed in the crash. The children's grandmother and great-grandmother were injured, but are expected to survive.

Marco Michael Muzzo, 29, is facing 18 charges as a result of the crash, including driving with a blood-alcohol level of over 80 (more than 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood) causing death.

Two memorial services were held at the St. Joachim Separate School where the two boys were students. The services were open to students, parents and staff members on Tuesday morning.

"In the office it was so sombre. You had children crying, the staff were very quiet," a woman told CTV Toronto at the school on Tuesday.

"Grief has struck the whole school community."

One student told reporters his teacher was crying, and all his classmates were "really sad."

A memory table was set up inside the school where students and teachers placed letters, toys and photos.

"It was very sad," parent Miguel Martinez told CTV Toronto through tears.

"There's someone missing in that room right now."

A pastor who was also in attendance told reporters he'd been with the family earlier in the day. The children's family attended the memorial, sitting with a group of classmates and their parents.

Rev. James Cherickal told reporters outside of the school that the family was in pain, but said they were grateful for the community's support.

"Words cannot explain these tragedies," he said.

"They are people of great faith and they need the prayers of the people."

A note was sent home with students advising parents that counsellors would be available for the boys' classmates.

"We ask you to join us in remembering our students and their family and to keep them in your thoughts and prayers," the note said.

A candlelight vigil will be held in honour of the Neville-Lake family in the garden of St. Padre Pio Church in Kleinburg on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.

Funeral arrangements have yet to be made, but a webpage set up to raise money for the family had raised approximately $8,000 on Monday morning. By 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, the pledges exceeded $143,000.

Many donors wrote that they were strangers who had been touched by the story.

"You don't know me, but through such a senseless and tragic event I know of you, your family and the loss that you suffered," one person wrote after making a donation.

"There are no words that will ever stop the ache your heart is feeling… I felt compelled to send you my heartfelt condolences."

Another wrote that her "heart is crying" for the family.

"A beautiful family torn apart this way is so awful," a third posted.

Others who were touched by the family's story left flowers and toys at the scene of the crash in Vaughan, and outside the family's home in Brampton.

Jennifer Neville-Lake, the children's mother and Neville's daughter, said Monday that she found out about the crash after seeing news coverage on television.

"It's very hard. It just doesn't seem quite real yet. I can't believe they're never coming back."

The family of the man charged in a crash has issued a statement in the wake of the deadly crash.

"We are all greatly saddened by yesterday's tragedy and express our deepest sympathy and condolences to the Neville, Lake and Frias families," Muzzo's mother Dawn said in the statement issued through a legal firm representing the family on Monday.

"We would ask for the cooperation of the media in respecting the privacy of our family during this very difficult time."