The motives of the bus driver accused of killing two young children by rushing into a daycare center on Wednesday remain unclear. From Sept-Îles, where he grew up, to Laval, where he lived, the people who knew him are in shock, but above all, they still have a hard time understanding the reasons behind his actions.
“I met Pierre at Cégep de Sept-Îles. I hired him when he was 17. He was a nice guy and without history, ”says an employee of the school, who prefers to remain anonymous out of respect for the relatives of the accused.
This employee, who worked for years with the adoptive father of Pierre Ny St-Amand, bluntly states that the population of Sept-Îles “is shaken by this tragedy”. “It’s a life story that began 12 hours from Laval. The world is so small, ”he breathes.
“Sometimes you hear falsehoods about immigrants. I know that Pierre had very good parents. His adoptive parents are from New Brunswick. They are people of heart, ”says the CEGEP employee, calling for the avoidance of “easy shortcuts” between the driver’s country of birth, Cambodia, and the tragedy itself.
According to our information, the father of the accused was a manager at the Cégep de Sept-Îles and his adoptive mother worked in a high school located nearby. Originally, Pierre Ny St-Amand would have been separated from his biological family due to the war in Cambodia.
The driver who killed two people and injured six as he rammed a bus into a Laval daycare center on Wednesday morning has been charged with two first-degree murders, attempted murder, aggravated assault and assault. According to our sources, Pierre Ny-St-Amand has been detained in the Bordeaux infirmary since Wednesday, probably in an isolation cell so as not to be mixed with other people.
“A human drama”
In Sept-Îles, Mayor Steeve Beaupré, who personally knows the family members of the accused, says he is also upset. “It’s a tragedy, it’s not necessarily predictable, it’s a human tragedy. On behalf of the council and the population of Sept-Îles, we offer our condolences to the bereaved,” he said in an interview with The Press.
On social networks, similar testimonies have abounded in the last hours. “I know the St-Amand family very well and I can’t believe they are going through such a tragedy. A loving family that has always had the interests of its children at heart. I in no way excuse the action taken by the individual and I am thinking of the parents of the children whose lives were taken from them. Be strong the St-Amand family, you did not deserve such a tragedy, ”wrote in particular a lady from New Brunswick, Lise Hébert-Bouchard.
“Pierre-Ny was a boy who liked to play badminton, who was a little shy, who was laughing, who had adoptive parents who loved him. Today, I wonder how this beautiful human being, whom I knew, could have become, in a moment of distress, a child killer. […] One word to sum up: incomprehensible,” also testified Sherbrooke resident Josée Loiselle, a friend of the accused.
In Laval, Montmorency College also affected
For Amélie Therrien, president of the teachers’ union at Montmorency College – where Pierre Ny St-Amand also studied after moving to the area – it will take time to recover from this tragedy.
All the profs here are completely devastated by what happened. It’s not every day that this kind of event happens, and more importantly, it’s not supposed to happen.
Amélie Therrien, president of the teachers’ union at Collège Montmorency
“There are child care and nursing students who were particularly affected, because they were on internship when some of the children arrived at Sainte-Justine. These students talk to each other a lot, they are tightly knit, so it was a little more difficult for them. This is the first big event they have to face in their internship, “continues Mme Therrien.
She reminds us that several means of obtaining support have been put in place by the college administration and the CISSS de Laval. “The human resources here have really been very proactive, contacting the departments directly. Often, at the union, people come to see us when help does not come. But there, it was really well managed, ”continues the trade unionist.
Montmorency College, for its part, did not wish to comment on the situation when it was called to do so on Thursday. “Our thoughts obviously go out to the families and loved ones of the victims as well as the children, parents and employees of the daycare centre,” nevertheless underlined the assistant director of communications, Marilyn Doucet.
Offer support to the suspect’s family
Everyone involved in the tragedy must receive support, including the suspect’s family, says Georgia Vrakas, associate professor in the department of psychoeducation at the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières.
With what happened, there’s a better chance that [la famille de l’accusé] either singled out or associated negatively with the situation. Clearly, we don’t want that.
Georgia Vrakas, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychoeducation at the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières
Following the tragedy, “there was a whole mobilization, a crisis center for the victims, the families, the loved ones: that’s what had to be done in the first place”, says forensic psychiatrist France Proulx, of the Philippe-Pinel National Institute of Forensic Psychiatry.
However, we must not forget the relatives of the suspect. “We can expect loved ones to be in distress and need support, because they too probably have to deal with the inexplicable and the incomprehension”, indicates the DD Proulx. “In addition, they will have to deal with public opinion,” she adds.
They could live on guilt. “What should I have seen that I didn’t see?” What should I have done? These are all questions that we ask ourselves afterwards, when we know what happened, ”continues the DD Proulx.
Some family members may want to distance themselves from the suspect to “protect themselves,” she says.
With the collaboration of Daniel Renaud, The Press