Edmonton mass shooting victims to be honoured at monastery

ABuddhist monastery will hold aspecial prayerSunday for the victims of the tragic mass shootings that left seven adults and two childrendead in Edmonton.

When we learn something like this, its like an awakening bell for all of us ... to reflect and to try and heal our hate, our greed and our ignorance, said Phap Hoa, the abbot of the Truc Lam Monastery on 97th Street.

Hoa said the citys Vietnamese community has been rocked by the killings, spread across opposite ends ofEdmonton earlier this week.

When we have a family that has a problem,we are here to help them.- Abbot PhapHoa

Fifty-three-year-old Phu Lam has been identified as the man responsible for killing his wife, Thuy Tien Truong, and her parentsas well as other members of her familyincluding her 8-year-old son and 3-year-old niece.

Lam then travelled to southwest Edmonton and killed Cyndi Duong, 37, before dying of an apparent suicide in a restaurant in Fort Saskatchewan.

• Phu Lam, 53, was shooter in Edmonton mass murder
• Victims identified, all died of gunshot wounds
• Edmonton mass killings: Timeline of events

Hoa said that Truongs brother-in-law, Tam Nguyen, whose wifewas one of Lams victims, is part of the monasterys membership.

At first, I didnt know it was his family until he came to see me," Hoasaid of Nguyen. "He was very emotional, very sad. He was confused and it was very hard for him to explain everything.

We promised him that, not only the monastery, but the Vietnamese community will support him.

Family needs 'warm support'

The monastery will say a special prayer for the family as part of its usual Sunday service at 10:30 a.m., Hoa said, as a way of showing support for the victims surviving family members.

The family needs warm support. We can see the community is concerned about each other. When we have a family that has a problem,we are here to help them.

Police Said Friday that Lam and Truong may have been estranged. Court documents obtained by CBC show that the shooter had previously threatened to kill his wife and her family in 2012, after learning through genetic tests that he was not the biological father of herson.

Truong applied for an emergency protection order after saying that Lam had abused and choked her that year.

Hoa said he hopes the prayer service will help ease the communitys pain, as well as to help others let go ofangerand ignorance.

The big gift you can give is to forgive and forget," Hoa said. "When you can forgive the one who hurt you, it is a gift for them. When you forgive the one who hurt you, it is a gift to yourself.

Hoa said the prayer service isopen to anyone who wishesto honour the victims.

'None of us knew what to do'

An Edmonton bantam hockey league also observed a moment of silence before all of their weekend games in memory of Cyndi Duong and her family.

Just to remember how great a lady she was and how happy she was, said Hunter Mailo, who plays on the Southwest Oil Kings with Duongs son, Jeremy.

She was just really open, always going out of her way to talk to people on the team.

Mailo said that Duongs family seemed tight-knit and would frequently be among the loudest to cheer forthe team. He said he still has trouble accepting that the woman he often saw in the stands was among the victims.

When we heard what happened, none of us knew what to do. We were shocked," he said.

Mailo said the team is considering adding a badge to their uniform to honour Duong, and that they will likely start a fund to help her family.