Family seeks answers as death called homicide
On the day her son Trevor Lomond was beaten to death last September, Sherry Duperre said she spoke to him for 22 minutes and soon had a feeling of dread.
Four months later, city police on Friday officially deemed the 33-year-old father of two died by homicide.
Police and his grieving family are both pleading for answers.
“He said he was going to a home in the southwest; he told me he’d call me later that day, but he didn’t call,” said Duperre, her son Cody by her side.
“I called him later but there was no answer … I didn’t sleep that night, it didn’t feel right.”
On Sept. 13, 2016, Lomond was found unconscious and in lifethreatening condition at a residence in the 1600 block of 42nd Street S.W.
He remained in a coma and on life-support for a week before succumbing to his injuries on Sept. 21, leading the investigation to be taken over by Calgary Police’s homicide unit.
City police Insp. Don Coleman said they considered it a homicide from day one, but refrained from publicly calling it that to protect their investigation.
Both police and the family are hoping appeals by Lomond’s loved ones will lead to crucial information being divulged.
Duperre said it’s been a nightmarish four months that’s ravaged her family by a “grief that’s magnified when that life is lost at the hands of a vicious attacker.”
“I have a hard time comprehending how someone could hurt another person with no regard to the outcome,” she said.
She thanked the person who made the initial 911 call and first responders for enabling the family to have some treasured time with a dying Lomond, whom she described as a man “with a heart of gold.”
“It allowed us to have a week with our son so we could say goodbye.”
Coleman said it’s still not clear how many people were at the 42nd Street S.W. residence the night Lomond was assaulted and said some of those present have been co-operative, while others have not.
“There are people who know what happened and we’re going to sort it out,” he said. “Sometimes it helps when the family tries to assist in every way they can.”
Duperre said her son’s life wasn’t always on the right track, but that he’d recently resolved to better it by heading back to school to attend accounting classes.
He’d had only minor run-ins with the law, said the mom, adding she still has no idea why someone would kill her son.
“I’ll fully understand it when the people who have done this are brought to justice.”
She said her son’s 11-year-old boy and eight-year-old daughter “are doing as good as can be expected.”
Anyone with information is encouraged to contact police at 403266-1234, or the Homicide Unit Tip Line at 403-428-8877.