What the authorities should be focusing on in this case is how to prevent similar tragedies in the future
It is, perhaps, a parent’s worst nightmare.
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A frantic call, text or email from your child’s school.
Perhaps you’re told: “There’s been an incident.” Or: “The students have been evacuated.” Maybe: “Police are on scene. Come pick up your child.”
Even if parents are informed no children had been harmed, no mother or father would truly believe that was true until they had their child safely in their arms.
And any parent’s first instinct as they rushed to their car to race to the school would be to check the Internet.
But at that point it would have been too soon to find out anything about the tragedy which unfolded at the entrance to one southwest Calgary school Tuesday morning.
In the ensuing minutes, every parent going to the school would play through their minds the worst-case scenarios.
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And those fears would not have been alleviated upon their arrival at the scene, where police had already taped off the building and the HAWCS helicopter hovered above looking for a murderous assailant.
Could it be a mass shooting, most parents would worry. Has my child been injured? Has my child been killed?
Those sorts of events, while not something Canadians have had to deal with, have become far too familiar to citizens because of incidents involving our neighbours to the south.
So the possibility exists.
Clearly there were mental health issues at play which led a city man to violate three separate court orders to have no contact with his estranged wife, go to the school where she would have been dropping off their children and kill her, before taking his own life a short distance away.
Anyone contemplating suicide alone has to be suffering mental anguish to the point of wanting to end their life. Wanting to kill someone else before doing so shows an even more tortured mind.
And to blame the criminal justice system for this tragedy is both a knee-jerk and unjustified reaction.
In this case, the husband was charged in July with sexually assaulting his wife and released on condition he have no contact with her, or their children.
This would suggest the allegation did not involve what is often referred to as a major sexual assault that might result in a penitentiary term.
He was subsequently twice charged with breaching the no-contact order, which included not being allowed to communicate with the parties, and released again both times.
For those who ascribe to the notion the justice system engages in a “catch-and-release” protocol, it should be noted these would also not have been serious allegations and may not have resulted in any jail time following a conviction.
It should be noted there were no associated charges in connection with the breach allegations, such as assault, or uttering threats and could have involved something as minor as a text from the dad asking to see his kids.
Granted shortly before the killing police had issued warrants for the husband’s arrest for harassing and stalking the victim, but those allegations were never put before a judge or justice of the peace.
Clearly by then the man had escalated his behaviour, but those alarm bells would have chimed too late.
What the authorities should be focusing on in this case is how to prevent similar tragedies in the future and that isn’t by jailing people because they might do something bad.
Mental health issues remain a serious problem in our society and people contemplate suicide all the time.
There are resources for those individuals to rely on, but more needs to be done.
Because this incident has not only created tragedy for a family, it will have a ripple effect on the students, teachers and parents at the school and Calgary at large.
KMartin@postmedia.com
X: @KMartinCourts
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