Family and tenant stabbed to death
Someone on PT once said that Canada was more 'civilized'.
Not sure about that...and the province of Alberta leads the country in amount of spousal violence.
I wish this poor man had been taken to the ER...all reports say that Alison obviously fought, in vain, to protect her children. The youngest was left alive and unharmed in her crib. Police Inspector Reuser, who spoke to the media, was hit hard...his voice frequently broke, and all officers returned to their division to receive trauma counselling. Many are parents themselves.
The two bereaved families are solid...little Anna will be raised by Alison's family.
http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/RTGAMA...calgary.ctv.ca
Quote:
Family and tenant stabbed to death
calgary.ctv.ca
POSTED AT 5:46 PM Friday, May 30
Police now believe Joshua Lall stabbed to death three members of his family and the downstairs tenant on Tuesday evening before stabbing himself to death.
The picture police are painting of the crime is a disturbing one.
Police say Amber Bowerman, the 30-year-old basement suite tenant, was killed first. The attack was such a surprise that she had no chance to fight back.
The bodies of Lall’s wife Alison and his daughters Rochelle and Kristen were found together in the master bedroom upstairs. “Every indication is that Alison fought to protect her children,” says Inspector Guy Slater from the Calgary Police Service.
Joshua Lall also died from multiple stab wounds. His body was found beside the crib of his one-year-old daughter Anna. Anna was the only person in the house who was not harmed, or killed.
Police say they have recovered the knife that was used in all the stabbings.
Lall’s motive for the killing remains a mystery but his mental health is still being considered.
“I can’t say whether, or not, Joshua had mental health problems. That is up to the medical experts to conclude,” says Slater.
A psychiatrist CTV News spoke to says when considering the way the event has been reported, it looks like this crime could have been triggered by depression. “It appears this man may have been suffering from a depression for some weeks prior to becoming so depressed that he lost touch with reality and during that break from reality it seems he acted in this very dangerous way,” says Dr. Mark Berber a psychiatrist from the Markham Stouffville Hospital in Toronto.
Police are still waiting for toxicology tests to come back from Joshua Lall’s body.
http://www.nationalpost.com/549585.bin
http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465...n?size=404x272
A handout photo of Allison Lall and her daughters. Police believe she died protecting them from her husband. He later commited suicide, say police.
http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465...n?size=404x272
Joshua Lall
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/...ry-deaths.html
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Lall's body was located in the room of his one-year-old daughter, who was found crying in her crib, unharmed.
It's not clear why Lall did what he did.
"I can't even speculate on that. The only person that knows that is Joshua himself," Slater said.
There was no suicide note, no obvious warning and no evidence of drug or alcohol use.
But there are reports that Lall was under extreme stress, preparing for his accreditation exams to be registered as a professional architect while raising a family and holding down a full-time job at a Calgary architectural firm.
His father, Dominic Lall, told the Calgary Sun his son was distraught when he called his parents in Ontario a few days ago.
"He told us something was wrong — he had a mental breakdown or something," his father said. The couple was planning to fly to Calgary when they learned of the deaths.[They arrived a day too late - CC]
Even so, Lall's colleagues, friends and neighbours describe him as a kind-hearted man who loved his family and was very involved in community activities.
Rob Adamson, the chair at architecture firm Cohos Evamy, where Lall had worked for the past five years, said Lall shone at work designing buildings for the disabled.
"He was a very outgoing person in the project work he was doing," Adamson told CBC News.
Adamson said the job is high-pressure and deadline-driven, but "Joshua always seemed happy at work and interested in his work."
He said he last spoke to his employee on Friday, when Lall asked where he could take his wife for an 8th anniversary dinner. Adamson said Lall called in sick on Monday, and the day after called to request a week's holiday.
He said everyone at work wonders what led police to believe Lall could be responsible for the deaths.
"If that were in fact the case, it would be completely out of character and that's the biggest question on people's mind, is that it just simply doesn't make sense," he said.
Lall family thanks public for support after Calgary slayings
