MONCTON, N.B. -- Thursday marked the sixth anniversary of the Moncton shootings, which claimed the lives of three RCMP officers.
Some took a moment for quiet reflection. Others placed flowers at the base of the memorial dedicated to slain Mounties Fabrice Gevaudan, Dave Ross and Doug Larche.
"These officers gave their life to protect us," said Brenda Richard.
Richard is from Moncton, but was living on Prince Edward Island at the time of the shootings on June 4, 2014. Thursday was the first time she’s been able to visit the memorial on the anniversary.
"To be here today really meant a lot to me," Richard said Thursday. "It’s an honour to be able to come in and pay respect to them in this way."
Nadine Larche, wife of Doug Larche, wasn’t prepared to do an interview Thursday, but said she hoped people would continue to remember Doug, Dave and Fabrice.
"While I think it’s important to remember and acknowledge the dark days, I also think it’s important to look at the healing, the love, how the community came together to support us and one another," Larche said. "To remember that these men, while police officers serving and protecting our community, they were sons, fathers, husbands and brothers too. Friends. Loved."
In the Moncton neighbourhood where the traumatic shootings took place, it wasn’t long before people in the community turned to each other for support.
Steph Lemay was on his motorcycle on June 4. Doug Larche stopped him and told him to turn around. He says as he drove off, he heard the shots that killed the RCMP officer.
In the weeks following the shootings, Lemay organized a fundraising concert, which helped purchase a bench in the Hildegard neighbourhood.
"This one is dear to my heart, because it was this tight community here that all came together afterwards and celebrated the fact that we can come together and now we all have a place that we can all come by and take a look and remember," Lemay said.
