Community mourns ‘wonderful’ 15-year-old
Friends, family gather at Stan Wadlow Park to remember Isaiah Witt
Five teenaged boys sit in silence on a curb under the Trull Funeral Home sign, their shoulders slumped, hands clasped and heads down.
Others walk down Danforth Ave. to join them, holding Iced Capps from Tim Hortons in one hand and visitation cards with Isaiah Witt’s smiling face in the other.
Witt was killed by a stab wound on Oct. 7 at Stan Wadlow Park.
Four were arrested and two men, aged 18 and 19, face a charge of second-degree murder. Witt’s death comes less than a month after Toronto police warned of parties in parks that turn violent.
On Friday, hundreds of mourners gathered for a visitation at Trull Funeral Home and a service at Stan Wadlow Park in East York, where the stabbing took place.
Inside the funeral home, hundreds of mourners lined up, weaving through rooms and hallways and up a spiral staircase to his open casket and weeping family. Teal and purple backpacks stood out against black suits and dresses.
A slide show shows a young Isaiah
“He always took the high road in life and he always chose to spread love.” STEPHANIE WITT RAISED ISAIAH
pushing a wheelbarrow, running across a lawn and unwrapping gifts under a Christmas tree. He has a mischievous grin in all of the photos, like he’s about to tell a joke.
Stephanie Witt spoke at the funeral service. She talked about becoming a parent to Witt when she was just 16, and raising him as a single parent.
She said before he died, Isaiah had written about his life, saying “it wasn’t easy throughout it all, but I’ve stayed strong and learned to keep my eyes on what’s right and wrong.”
“Our lives were getting better,” Stephanie said, crying. “He always took the high road in life and he always chose to spread love no matter what he was dealing with.”
Tom Lazarou, principal at Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts, described Witt, a Grade 10 student at the school, as “a wonderful boy.”
“He had an energy about him that, you know, he attracted a lot of people that wanted to be friends with him,” Lazarou said.
Witt — whom his principal described as caring, outgoing and generous — played rugby and guitar.
Lazarou said grief counsellors have attended the school every day this week to support students.
Parents speculated in a Facebook group that Witt’s death may have been linked to a party in the park.
In September, Toronto police warned of “multiple parties” resulting in “swarming-style robberies, stabbings and assaults.”