A vigil was held outside Calgary’s city hall on Wednesday evening for an 11-year-old boy with autism who was found dead inside a labyrinth of water pipes a week earlier.
Parker’s disappearance from a northside day home last month prompted a massive two-week search that saw police officers, search and rescue experts, and residents scour city blocks and blast Disney music to try to find him.
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Calgary Police Chief Katie McLellan told those gathered at the vigil that the search was filled with “deeply human” acts of kindness, such as leaving water bottles and snacks for Parker to hopefully find.
She added that Parker would always have a special place in the hearts and heads of Calgarians.
The search also raised questions about alerting the public when vulnerable children disappear, prompting calls for improvements to those systems.
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Mayor Jeromy Farkas, fighting back tears, said it’s hard to make sense of what happened to Parker.
“A tragedy like this … shakes every one of us who loves a child,” Farkas told those at the vigil Wednesday. “It shakes a city, and if your heart is aching tonight, mine is too. Calgary is hurting together.”
This is why I have no empathy for anyone complaining about the Amber Alert system on our phones. Sorry, I just can’t bring myself to care about you losing a little sleep when it might mean avoiding a tragedy like this. My heart is absolutely breaking for his parents, and anyone else who knew him.