“We’ve had losses — deaths in the family — but this is a big tragedy, especially since there’s three of them … it’s just heartbreaking.”
Family members are reeling after the triple homicide of a father and two grown sons shot in their Lloydminster home on Wednesday, Sept. 11.
“All three of them were shot in their home. It was Brent’s house,” said a cousin, Mary-Anne Parkhurst, also of Lloydminster.
“We’re not a hundred per cent sure why. All we know is that it was targeted,” she said.
The news came to her in a public way.
“I was up feeding my son in the night. I opened Facebook and saw the post from another family member,” she said.
“Unfortunately, we found out on Facebook — the family found out on Facebook,” she said.
‘Heartbreaking’
The house has been cordoned off with tape for evidence gathering.
“We’re definitely heartbroken, that’s for sure,” Parkhurst said.
“We’ve had losses — deaths in the family — but this is a big tragedy, especially since there’s three of them. It’s just heartbreaking,” she said.
The cousins had been close-knit as children, but lost contact after growing up. They had reconnected, she said.
The brothers had received scholarships for trades training.
They had had brushes with the law, Parkhurst said, but were well-liked.
“They all had good hearts, and they were good people,” she said.
Brent Peters’ Facebook page shows he was a car enthusiast, whose Facebook granddaughter, Brennan’s daughter, was the light of his life.
Organizer Jessica Cox wrote that the community was rocked by the tragedy.
“The unimaginable took place in our small city of Lloydminster and three lives were robbed from a daughter/granddaughter and mother/friend and many more who loved them,” she wrote.
“Brent, Brennan and Matthew were sons and fathers. They were cruelly taken from this world and did not deserve such a heinous act. They loved those close to them with everything they had,” Cox wrote.
Well-being check
Const. Cory Riggs, RCMP public information officer in Alberta, said the bodies were discovered during an RCMP well-being check about 5:51 p.m. Wednesday at the home near 50 Street and 47th Avenue in Lloydminster.
“When officers attended the location, they located three deceased individuals,” he said, declining to confirm identities or cause of death.
“It appears to be a targeted and isolated incident, and there’s no immediate concern for the public,” Riggs said.
There is no foundation to rumours circulating last week that a standoff in Saskatchewan was linked to the killings, he said.
Anyone with information about the killings is asked to call 780-808-8400. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call 1-800-222-8577.