With tears in their eyes and flowers in their hands, more than a hundred people gathered Saturday night outside the Anoka Street home where a mother and daughter were stabbed to death nearly a week ago.
Somber music filled a suburban Ottawa street as people stood in silence to remember Anne-Marie Reedy, 50, and Jasmine Reedy, 15.
“They were such gentle souls,” said Tyler Glenn, who trains with them at Douvris Martial Arts Studio, where they just received their black belts two weeks ago after years of training.
Glenn said he was in “complete denial and complete shock” after hearing of the two’s deaths at the hands of 21-year-old Joshua Graves, the son of the family’s neighbor.
According to the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), Ontario’s police watchdog, Ottawa police received a 911 call around 10:30 p.m. on June 27.
Officers arrived on the scene and found Graves stabbing Anne-Marie Reddy’s 19-year-old daughter, Catherine, in the road near the house.
When he refused to drop his knife, the police shot and killed him – also hitting Catherine. She was the only survivor of the knife attack.
Graves’ family members said he suffered from mental illness and had a “romantic” interest in one of the victims. Just three days before his knife rampage, Graves was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting and stalking a 16-year-old girl.
He was then released from custody.
“Deeply disturbed”
Although people came to mourn their loss, many still had questions.
“I’m curious how a 21-year-old man who was accused of sexual assault a week before was left running free with a knife,” said neighbor Scott Babbitt.
Babbitt witnessed the incident and said he was “deeply disturbed” and had “vivid” memories of it. On the night of the murders, Babbitt said Graves was left unattended near several other girls who lived on Anoka Street.
Ottawa police blocked off a residential street on June 28, one day after the fatal stabbings. (Claudine Richard/Radio-Canada)
The tragedy unfolded on the same day a high-profile coroner’s inquiry into the murders of three women in Renfrew County published 86 recommendations aimed at eradicating violence against women.
Lawyer Pamela Cross, who was part of a panel of experts at the inquest, said the coincidence was shocking and called last week’s murders – just like the 2015 killings of Natalie Warmerdam, Anastasia Kuzik and Carol Culton – clear acts of “femicide “.
It’s important to distinguish “femicide” from “murder,” Cross said, because the former is the act of killing girls and women because of their gender. One of the recommendations of the jury members at the inquest was to include femicide in the Criminal Code of Canada.
“It’s deeply disturbing in so many ways … that someone so young is already so shaped by the misogynistic values that frame a culture we all live in,” she said.
Jasmine Reedy (left) died in the attack on June 27, while her older sister Catherine (right) survived when police shot the suspect dead. (Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est/Catherine Sauve)
“Girls don’t feel safe”
Alta Vista community member and women’s advocate Cheshmak Farhumand-Sims said she organized Saturday’s vigil to not only allow people to mourn and grieve, but also to raise awareness about violence against women and mental health issues.
“Every time women are lost to violence [like] it’s a reminder that we still have so much work to do to prevent the circumstances that lead to violence against women and really try to get to the root causes,” she said.
Farhoumand-Sims said she wonders about all the things that could have been done to prevent the attack on Anne-Marie, Catherine and Jasmine Ready.
Cheshmak Farhoumand-Sims organized Saturday’s vigil, saying it was a chance to allow people to express their grief while drawing attention to violence against women. (Avantika Anand/CBC)
Douvris Martial Arts Studio is accepting donations to help Catherine Reddy as she remains in hospital, six days after the attack.
The SIU, which investigates – among other things – deaths and serious injuries involving police, said on Tuesday that she was in a serious but stable condition.
Jeanne Marcoux, a friend of Catherine’s who was at the vigil, said the two took classes together at the University of Ottawa. She described her friend as “bright”, “full of life” and “always in a good mood”.
Marcoux said she hopes and prays for her friend’s recovery, adding that realizing the Readys were targeted because of their gender makes her fear for herself and other women.
“It’s scary knowing that I have a friend in the hospital right now, without a mother or a sister,” she said. “Girls don’t feel safe.”
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