Tributes pouring in for young man from Langdon killed in crash east of Calgary

CALGARY – A crash east of Calgary claimed the lives of two people Saturday.

A 19-year-old man and a 28-year-old woman from Langdon, Alta. – were pronounced dead at the scene of the crash. STARS Air Ambulance flew a third person to a Calgary hospital with serious injuries. A fourth person was taken to hospital by ground ambulance. The two remained in hospital Saturday afternoon.

Strathmore RCMP said the crash happened at 7:14 a.m. on Highway 797, approximately two kilometres south of Highway 1.

Friends have identified to Global News that the 19-year-old victim is Quinton Peplinski. He’s being described as a fun young man who always had a smile on his face.

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Peplinski was a graduate of Chestermere High School and played AA hockey in the area.

He was the lone occupant of a car that collided with an SUV on Highway 797 north of Langdon.

Police have not released further details about the 28-year-old woman from Langdon that was killed, who was in the SUV.

A man in his 50s and a woman in her 40s from the SUV were injured as well.

Tammy Thankachen, a Langdon resident, started a GoFundMe page to help the families and a trust fund will be opened at the Langdon Mountainview Credit Union this week.

She is collecting items for the victims’  families at her family’s martial arts studio in Langdon.

“Langdon is a tight knit community. The whole community has come together, people have dropped off food and offered to cook and clean,” Thankachen said.

Thankachen’s daughter went to school with Peplinski.

She says this is especially hard on area residents who have suffered the loss of two other young men in traffic collisions in the past couple of years.

Community members  have set up a public Facebook group in Memory of Quinton Peplinski. A balloon release in Quinton’s honour is set for 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 29.

Police continue to investigate what caused the collision.

With files from Emily Mertz