An emotional service was held Tuesday in Langley to mark the one-year anniversary of a shooting spree that left two people dead and two others injured.
Paul Wynn, 60, and Steven Furness, 43, were killed early July 25, 2022, when Jordan Daniel Goggin went on a six-hour rampage targeting people in the street before he was shot dead by police.
A year later, the pain of that horrific day was still fresh for many who gathered at the Langley Vineyard Church to honour the memories of the dead.
“I’m mama bear and I have homeless cubs. … They were both my cubs,” Christine Johnstone told Global News.
“When I was homeless in Langley they took care of me. They made sure I was warm, if I had a sweater, a jacket, food, a place under a tree to sleep,” she said.
“Why? Why did this happen?” said Mark Jones, a friend of Steven’s. “We should be helping each other, not killing each other. It’s sad.”
The horrific attacks began around midnight, with shots fired at multiple locations throughout the city of Langley, as well as one scene in the Township of Langley. At the time, police sent out an emergency alert to mobile phones saying the shootings involved “transient” victims. A motive in the shootings, however, was never determined.
Furness was shot dead at the Langley Bus Loop, while Wynn was killed outside of a supportive housing complex.
Both men had experienced homelessness, and the tragedy united their families in calling for change.
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“These are not the people who need to just be forgotten. They need help, they need a hand to bring them up, they need homeless shelters, they need doctors, they need facilities to get them better,” Wynn’s brother John Wynn said.
John described his brother as a charismatic and well-liked person always looking to help others. He had battled with addiction but stabilized his life and secured housing at the time of his death.
“There’s not one person I’ve ever met who said anything bad about Paul. He didn’t belong — none of these people belong where they are — but Paul definitely didn’t belong where he was, and he definitely didn’t deserve to go out the way he went.”
Stewart Furness, Steven Furness’ father, told Global News his son struggled with ADHD before he landed on the street and got hooked on drugs.
Even before the tragedy, he said, he’d begun to ready himself for the possibility he might lose his son to toxic drugs.
Like John Wynn, he said Canada needs to do better at taking care of those who have fallen through the cracks.
“We’ve got to get people off the street. Sleeping in tents … and the parking lot of the casino, that’s not a way to live,” he said.
“We’ve got to get them some help. And the way to do that is to give them, first of all, shelter, so that when they are in a position where the social services can find them and help them, they’re easy to be found — I know how hard it was sometimes to find Steven.”
Along with better resources for the homeless, John Wynn wants to see a coroner’s inquest held into his brother’s death so that the truth of his brother’s terrible last night is in the public record.
The BC Coroners Service has not formally called an inquest yet, but John said he’s been told it will happen, though perhaps not for a year or more.
“At least that will give people what truly happened that night,” he said.
“These aren’t just people who are living on the street, that steal stuff, doing drugs. These are people who have asked over, and over, and over for help.”
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