My heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to the victim of the recent attack, her child and her family. May healing come quickly, gracefully and complete as possible.
As a community, all of us in Penticton need to stay vigilant against this type of incident ever happening again in our city. We all owe it to each other as friends and neighbours.
Several people stepped forward to say this man was growing violent in the times before the incident. We had a man with a troubled, unstable past getting pressured from many sides, and losing his business as well. More efforts should be made to identify, reach out and try to help people in that state with the aid of proper authorities instead of observing and doing nothing, letting the wounds further fester. We just witnessed the result of that.
If you see people in an unstable dangerous state, speak up and let others know, especially the correct authorities. Those having the position to impact the life of a proven unstable individual also have the responsibility of doing so in a correct manner, preferably gently and politely, involving professionals and authorities if necessary. Safety for each other in the community must come ahead of everything else.
Chuck Stewart
Penticton