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Sudbury family mourns slain son 0

By Jim Moodie, The Sudbury Star
Thursday, June 5, 2014 2:00:10 EDT AM


Family members of a young man slain in the Donovan gathered in a dimly lit restaurant on Kathleen Street yesterday to support each other and mourn their lost loved one.
"He wanted to be something," said a shaken Lisa Ashawasagai, mother of the victim, Alan Ashawasagai. "A mechanic, or electrician. He wanted to change his life around."
The 20-year-old, who lived in an apartment in the Kathleen Street area, died of stab wounds outside the Frood Hotel on Tuesday afternoon after lurching away from a nearby residence on Bessie Street, where sources say a drinking party among youth got out of hand.
A 17-year-old woman, who can't be named due to provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, is in custody and charged with second-degree murder.
The victim's grandmother, Alfreda Netagog, remained in shock Wednesday, unable to grasp how her grandson could be taken so quickly and violently from the family's midst.
"He was quiet. You wouldn't think anything like this could happen," she said. "It seems like he was in the wrong place at the wrong time."
The family visited the hospital Wednesday to identify the body, reconvening afterward in the parking lot outside Golded Pizza, a stone's throw from the site of the tragedy.
Relatives spanning five generations had converged here, including the victim's great-grandmother, many of them coming from the Pickerel River area. The Henvey Inlet First Nation is home to the Ashawasagai clan, and Alan himself was born in that community.
His father, Alan Smith, died at the age of 23, when Alan Jr. was just three, said his mom. Alan Jr. was the eldest of four boys and attended high school in Sudbury.
Manon Depatie, pushing a stroller on Kathleen Street with partner John, burst into tears while describing how she felt about Ashawasagai, whom she knew well.
"It honestly breaks my heart," she said. "Alan was a really misunderstood boy but a really great person. I knew him for 12 years and dated him last year. He was a good kid and didn't deserve anything like this."
The two remained friends even after splitting up, said Depatie. "He was supportive of me and told me to be a good mom," she said.
The incident Tuesday has made Depatie seriously reconsider living in the Donovan, particularly now that she's got a five-month-old girl to care for. "It makes me scared to know she's growing up in this environment," she said.
"My dad grew up here in the Donovan and it used to be a really good place," noted John, the baby's father. "Now it's gone to s--t."
Others are a bit more charitable, suggesting problems of substance abuse and violence aren't unique to this corner of Sudbury.
"It's not just the Donovan," said Alison Karl, who lives and works in the neighbourhood. "It's all over the city, pretty much wherever there's geared-to-income housing."
Karl remains very concerned, however, especially since she has two boys who are approaching the age where they will likely end up at a party, experimenting with alcohol.
"They're good kids, but I'm afraid for them, because something like this can happen," she said. "Teenagers are teenagers, but it's like they've gotten braver and dumber."
Marissa, a 19-year-old who knew both Alan and his alleged attacker, agreed people her age and younger are getting out of control.
"Kids these days think they have something to prove," she said. "They don't have respect, don't care. They don't want to work. It's disgusting."
She thinks a lack of activities for young people may be part of the problem, as "you can only go to the movies (and) go-karting so many times."
The death of Ashawasagai is affecting many in the community, she said. "I knew him and went to school with him and he was just a good kid," she said. "Obviously he got in some trouble but he was a regular kid and a lot of my guy friends are so devastated."
Information and rumours were swirling through the halls of high schools and social media channels Wednesday regarding the cause of the crime, with booze being blamed in many of the versions.
Some of the youth in the building where violence erupted had "been drinking for two weeks," according to Marissa, with one individual "posting a morning shot (of alcohol) on their Facebook status thing" the day of the stabbing.
She, along with others who spoke with The Star, said Ashawasagai had passed out before he was attacked.
The alleged stabber made a brief appearance in bail court at the Sudbury Courthouse on Wednesday and was remanded in custody to June 12.
"We're going to have a bail hearing," her lawyer, Alex Toffoli, told The Star.
Apart from second-degree murder, the female teen is facing charges of possession of a dangerous weapon and breach of probation.
Marissa said she didn't know the accused well, but wouldn't have considered her dangerous. "Maybe she wasn't playing with a full deck of cards, but I thought she was harmless," she said.
As for the Donovan, she shares the view that times have changed for the colourful neighbourhood, which once prided itself on ethnic harmony and a blue-collar work ethic.
"My dad grew up in the house I live in now, and my mom grew up here too," Marissa said. "Everybody knew everybody and would leave their doors unlocked. It was never like this."
No funeral arrangements had been made for Ashawasagai as of Wednesday, but it was clear he was missed.
"It's not just family but everyone he touched," said Depatie. "It's a really big tragedy, and it makes me sick."
The friend -- and former girlfriend -- said she saw Ashawasagai two days before the stabbing and "he looked really happy."
That was typical of him, she said. "He always had a smile on his face. And he tried to put a smile on your face, too."
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