Family members of the five young people killed during an April 15 house party in Brentwood have released a joint statement asking for privacy during this period of ‘unimaginable grief.
Relatives of Katie Perras, Josh Hunter, Zackariah Rathwell, Jordan Segura, and Lawrence Hong released the following joint statement on Saturday morning:
In this time of tremendous grief and tragedy, our five families have come together as one. We know the public and media are searching to understand how this could have happened, as are we. But we also know that these answers will take time and nothing will come as quickly as we want or need.
As a group, we have come together to support one another, and in time, start the healing process. First, we must say goodbye to our loved ones, which includes memorials and funerals over the coming days and weeks.
We ask that in this time of unimaginable sorrow, you respect our privacy and give us the breathing room we need to come to grips with what has happened to Josh, Zack, Kaiti, Jordan and Lawrence.
We are not at a point where we are ready to speak publicly to any media outlet or reporter. We can assure you that when the time comes we, as a group, will do so. This will be co-ordinated through the Public Affairs/Media Relations Unit of the Calgary Police Service.
We ask that you extend this privacy to the witnesses and close friends of our beloved five, as they, too, are suffering unimaginable grief. When the time comes for them to speak out, they will do it with the help of the CPS.
Over the coming days, we will be releasing details of various funds where donations can be made to support the numerous bursaries and scholarships being planned to remember our loved ones.
We wish to extend our thanks to Calgarians, and others who have expressed their condolences for our loss. We know you are grieving, too, and we truly appreciate the support.
- The family of Kaiti Perras, the family of Josh Hunter, the family of Zackariah Rathwell, the family of Jordan Segura and the family of Lawrence Hong.