‘They were going to go zip lining ... when they got shot’
FREDERICTON — The new relationship had been announced with a little blue heart posted on Facebook, but just days later a gunman in an apartment window brought it to a sudden and violent end.
For close friends and relatives of Bobbie Lee Wright, 32, and Donald Adam Robichaud, 42, the shooting deaths came as a stunning blow, ending the lives of two quiet people preparing for an outdoor adventure together.
“They were going to go zip lining after work. They were packing up the car before work and that’s when they got shot,” said Melissa Robichaud, Donald’s wife, from whom he recently separated.
Soon after, two officers from the Fredericton police force were also gunned down as they responded to the shots being fired.
“All four of those people were loved, very loved,” said Robichaud.
The 36-year-old resident of Traceyville, N.B., said in a telephone interview she’d been with her husband 22 years.
Robichaud has two teenage sons, Zakkery and Draiden, and a daughter, Chloe, and is survived by his mother Jean, she said. The children’s names are tattooed on his neck.
“He was a good man,” said Robichaud, adding that he’d worked hard as a commercial painter and later as an autobody mechanic to support his family.
He had a passion for music, playing bass, drums and singing across New Brunswick until arthritis slowed the pace of his playing, she said.
In addition, he’d acquired a passion in recent years for riding his Harley-Davidson, and he and his wife would tour the region wearing the classic leather gear.
Relatives of Bobbie Lee Wright were unavailable for comment on Saturday, as a cousin said they were struggling with intense grief.
However, close friends said they could not understand why anyone would want to hurt a woman they’d known as quiet and caring.
Amanda Lee Leighton, 32, said, Wright was a friend who in their teenage years comforted her as she was grieving the death of her own mother. “It’s heartbreaking and I think I’m still in shock,” she said.
— By Michael Tutton in Halifax With files from Steve Hennigar in Toronto. The Canadian Press