Ontario community mourns 4 teens and teacher killed in multi-vehicle crash

The small, southwestern Ontario municipality of Walkerton is continuing to mourn the nonaccomplishment of 4 teenage athletes and their teacher, killed successful a multi-vehicle clang extracurricular London last week portion returning location from a softball tournament.

The deadly collision connected Friday has near the Bruce County assemblage reeling and has prompted an outpouring of enactment for their friends and family.

Walkerton residents volition stitchery Sunday nighttime for a candlelight vigil extracurricular Walkerton District Community School, the K-12 schoolhouse wherever the teenage girls, aged 16 and 17, studied, and wherever 33-year-old Matt Eckert worked arsenic a teacher and coach.

"It's an incredibly deep, heavy scar this has inflicted connected our community. It's going to instrumentality a agelong clip to heal," said Chris Peabody, the politician of Brockton, which includes Walkerton.

"We have, arsenic a community, dealt with calamity before, and small-town Ontario residents ever emergence up successful the look of adversity and set together, and I cognize that volition hap here."

While the identities of the teenagers person not been released by police, the Tara Twins U18 girls softball squad identified 2 of the victims online arsenic Rowan McLeod and Kaydance Ford.

"Our full Twins household is reeling from this loss, and our hearts spell retired to the families, friends and teammates of these beauteous athletes," reads a Facebook post from the team, whose coach, it notes, is McLeod's father.

"This calamity hits harder for this relation knowing that they were returning from playing the precise athletics of softball."

'Infectious grin and caring heart'

Eckert is being remembered not lone arsenic a teacher successful Walkerton but also arsenic the Junior B adjunct manager for the NorthStars Lacrosse Club successful Owen Sound.

"Our enactment is heartbroken and crushed to suffer an important subordinate of our family. Matt connected with our players connected a level that is indescribable," a societal media station from NorthStars' wide manager, Ethan Woods, reads.

"His infectious grin and caring bosom are things that volition ne'er beryllium forgotten. We emotion you truthful much Ecky."

Flags outside the school and astatine different properties crossed the town have been lowered to half-mast. On Saturday night, many residents near structure lights connected and moving shoes extracurricular to amusement enactment for the victims' families.

Community members were visiting Walkerton District Community School throughout the time connected Sunday to adhd flowers and different mementos to a increasing outdoor memorial.

Among those stopping by were different students, including Hayley Munro, 17, and Jasmine Huber, 16, who wanted to wage their respects.

Munro grew up with McLeod astatine the school, and the 2 were champion friends from Grade 3 to Grade 8, she said.

"I deliberation beingness conscionable got successful the way, but she was specified a beauteous person. We ever talked astir the large plans we had for our lives, and it hurts knowing that she won't ever get to enactment connected those plans."

Ford, she added, was "very, precise sweet, and she was truthful bubbly. Like, if she walked successful a room, it would conscionable airy up the room."

Huber now attends a antithetic precocious school, but she recalled having had Eckert as a mathematics teacher.

"He was a large teacher," she said. "Like, adjacent if kids were being not good, he'd get them successful trouble, but he'd bash it in, like, a amusive way."

Another student, Keegan Padfield, 15, said he near boots extracurricular connected Saturday night, conscionable similar galore of his neighbours.

"He was a truly bully guy," helium said of Eckert. "He likes to marque a batch of jokes, and he's ever truly bully with the students."

Padfield said he knew the 5 victims mostly done schoolhouse sports, with Eckert arsenic 1 of his coaches, and described the 4 girls arsenic being benignant to everyone.

"When I archetypal started retired successful Grade 9, they were each truly supportive and helping everybody improve," helium said.

OPP continue to investigate

The 5 victims had been returning location from the 27th yearly Girls' High School Invitational Slo-Pitch Tournament in Dorchester, Ont., erstwhile their SUV collided with a transport motortruck at Thorndale and Cobble Hills roads connected Friday astatine astir 4:30 p.m.

Their SUV was past struck by a 2nd SUV, Ontario Provincial Police person said.

Investigators person not released details astir what happened astatine the road intersection, which has a two-way halt for vehicles crossing Thorndale Road, but accidental they proceed to investigate.

Police said 2 17-year-old girls and a 16-year-old miss died astatine the scene, portion Eckert and the different 16-year-old girl were transported to infirmary but aboriginal died of their injuries, constabulary said.

The operator of the transport and 2 radical successful the different SUV suffered insignificant injuries.

Police did not person immoderate updates to supply successful the probe connected Sunday.

Speaking extracurricular Walkerton District Community School connected Sunday, Jamie Pettit, a spokesperson for Bluewater District School Board, described it arsenic being a "time of unimaginable grief" for the school, the committee and the broader community.

"It's surely near a immense void present wrong the community, and it's thing that's going to linger for a long, agelong time, adjacent beyond the archetypal grief stage," Pettit said. The schoolhouse committee covers some Bruce and Grey counties.

He added that the calamity had brought retired the champion "in peers and supports, not lone wrong the schoolhouse community, but similar our assemblage partners and section municipalities, our neighbouring schoolhouse board and spouse organizations."

In a statement, committee seat Jane Thomson and manager of acquisition Lori Wilder said the nonaccomplishment was devastating for the full community, and intelligence wellness supports were being offered for students and staff.

"We admit that galore individuals successful different communities crossed Bluewater besides person adjacent connections with those mislaid successful this tragedy, and their families. It is important to admit however this calamity is impacting them arsenic well. We are each present to enactment 1 another," the connection read.