A year after his father was killed in a shooting during a Sunday morning service at the Salmon Arm Church of Christ in Salmon Arm, B.C., David Parmenter said his family wants to talk about hope.
“I think a year ago it felt like it was so raw and so difficult. It didn’t feel like it was ever going to end. A year on now, I can say that we we’re on the other side of this in a very significant way,” David Parmenter said.
“I don’t feel like we have just survived it. We’ve gotten through in and not allowed it to define us.”
Gordon Parmenter, a 78-year-old church elder, was killed in the shooting and fellow parishioner Paul Derkach was shot in the leg.
A year later, David Parmenter is remembering his father as a “pretty selfless” man of faith.
“He loved the Lord. He loved his church and he was all about serving people,” David Parmenter said.
Connections important through difficult time
David Parmenter said his family’s faith, close connection with each other and support from their community have helped them through the last year.
“We have been lifted up and just cared for and it’s pretty special,” David Parmenter said.
In an interview with Global News, David Parmenter reflected that not everyone who facing a difficult time will have gone through a public event that causes people to come to their aid.
He hopes his family’s experience dealing with loss can encourage others and urged people who are struggling to find ways to connect with others (while still following physical distancing recommendations during the pandemic).
“That’s a powerful thing that you can do to help get through a difficult time,” he said.
It’s a sentiment echoed by Salmon Arm Church of Christ minister Doug Kendig who said support from the community and other churches made a big difference after the tragedy.
The church is paying that support forward.
The minister said his church reached out to another congregation in the United States who recently experienced a shooting to offer sympathy and encouragement.
Kendig said they told their counterparts in the US “you do forgive and time does a lot of healing.”
Trial scheduled for July
Matrix Savage Paladin Gathergood, who was well known to the Parmenter family, is charged with charged with murder and aggravated assault in connection with the shooting.
The case is currently set to go to trial on July 22.
Kendig said congregants are hoping the trial goes ahead as scheduled.
“People are hoping to get through that, not looking forward to it, but wanting it over,” Kendig said.
Gathergood is also charged with arson in connection with a fire at Parmenter’s mobile home the the month before the shooting.
— with files from Kristen Robinson and Doyle Potenteau
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