At least five family members were injured in the Amqui tragedy when a man deliberately crashed into pedestrians on Monday afternoon.
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The sister of one of the injured, Marie-Soleil Anctil, launched a fundraiser on GoFundMe on Tuesday to help her grieving family.
According to our information, the mother of the Jennifer Anctil family was traveling on Route 132 with her spouse Maxime Brisson, their two children, one under a year old and the other almost three years old, and Mr. Brisson’s parents. when Steve Gagnon hit her head-on.
Ms. Anctil, her two children and her stepfather were then taken to Enfant-Jésus Hospital in Quebec City for treatment of more serious injuries.
Ms. Anctil’s mother-in-law was admitted to Amqui Hospital.
Thankfully, they’re all out of danger, according to a family friend who spoke to Le Journal. For their part, the children are said to have suffered concussions and were discharged from the hospital in the afternoon.
“My little sister is having surgery on her leg. The children are alright. They will have follow-ups to make sure everything is going well in relation to the head trauma,” says Marie-Soleil Anctil on her Facebook page.
“It’s a drama without words. It’s something that brings us so much misunderstanding, I can’t believe it,” she mentions, specifying that the road to recovery will be “long” for the family.
community in shock
The next few days will also be difficult for the community of the small parish of Bas-Saint-Laurent, which is still struggling to grasp the magnitude of the tragedy.
The grieving and healing process begins this Friday at 7 p.m. with a Mass at the church in Amqui.
“The celebration is also intended to bring comfort to all those affected. A whole city is shaken. It’s sad and shocking […] says the priest Kindé Cosme Arouko.
For the remainder of the week, the bells will symbolically ring at 3:05 p.m. each day, the time the alleged killer struck.
Elected officials also in shock
The mayor of Amqui, Sylvie Blanchette, who was present at the scene of the accident for a press conference on Tuesday, underlined that the citizens had experienced something “that we are not used to living in a municipality of 6,200 inhabitants.
In addition to the Mayor, the Minister of Public Security, François Bonnardel, was present in Amqui and expressed his condolences to the bereaved.
“We are beyond sad, all of Quebec is behind Amqui,” he said.
– With the collaboration of Louis Deschênes and TVA Nouvelles
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