First Nation mourns 3 ‘best bros’

A small, tight-knit northern Manitoba First Nation was in mourning Monday after three boys who loved to play and ice fish together were struck and killed by an alleged drunk driver. RCMP say Mateo MooreSpence, Terrence Spence and Keithan Lobster, all between 11 and 13, were walking and riding bikes Saturday night when they were hit on a road near Nelson House, about 850 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

“They were always together, every day,” Curtis Lobster, Keithan’s uncle, said Monday. “They did what kids do, right? Sliding, ice fishing, playing like kids.”

Lobster said his nephew had been struggling in school after the death of his mother last year. The death was ruled a suicide, but the family is not convinced and wants the investigation reopened, he said.

“Everybody knew them. They were really close to my grandsons,” said Marcel Moody, chief of Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation, which includes Nelson House. Moody said that when he told his grandson that his friends had died, the 9-year-old broke into tears and said, “I lost my best bros.”

Todd Norman Linklater, 27, is facing numerous charges, including impaired driving causing death and failing to remain at the scene of an accident. In a community of about 2,500 residents, many people know both the kids and the accused.

Classes were cancelled at the community’s schools on Monday morning as teachers came to terms with losing three students and prepared to connect others with grief counsellors in the afternoon.