Friend recalls homicide victim Bear as kind and caring

It’s still unclear what transpired in the last moments of Richard Bear’s life.

After his body was found outside a home on Retallack Street on Tuesday evening, the city’s major crimes unit began to investigate what they later identified as Regina’s first homicide of 2018.

But those who were close to the man, whose life ended at age 27, remember his goodness, as well as his challenges.

Shyla Keewatin says “Richie” had a smile that would light up the room.

“He was a beautiful person, inside and out,” she wrote in a message to the Leader-Post, noting that the pair were supportive of each other, as each planned to further their education.

Bear was a father, and Keewatin wrote that his plans to better himself were mostly for his four children.

He also struggled with depression, she wrote, noting that the loss of a family member last year had caused him pain.

Keewatin wrote that she would lend Bear an ear as he eventually became more expressive about his feelings.

Before his death, she wrote, he was becoming more optimistic about life.

She remembers the man as being kind, caring and sweet — a man who could “get along with almost everyone.”

“I’m going to miss him terribly. I’m having such a hard time,” she wrote. “He always told me he was here for me, that he will always be here for me. Now I just gotta believe that he is.”