Attackers pursued man with bear spray before killing him
He was a gentle giant.
That’s how friends and family are remembering Darby Soop — also known as Darby Shade — the 26-year-old Calgary man found stabbed to death Tuesday evening in the city’s southwest.
At around 10:30 p.m., police called to a home on 37th Street near 10th Avenue S.W. for reports of a disturbance found a chaotic scene of panicked people, bear spray and the body of Soop, laying stabbed to death across the street in the parking lot of Westbrook Mall.
It is Calgary’s first homicide of 2018.
An athlete and presence in southern Alberta’s amateur MMA circuit, Soop is being remembered as a big man with an even bigger heart.
“Darby was the most pure-hearted, loving, gentle person, who did not deserve a life cut short,” Soop’s brother, Brandon, told Postmedia on Thursday.
“I’ve been blessed with the privilege of calling Darby my big brother and my best friend — even at his worst times, he still always managed to have a smile on his face with a positive attitude.”
Friends say the evening began with an innocent gathering, unwinding with a few drinks at the home of a mutual friend.
Two of those in attendance were the son and daughter of Grace Heavy Runner, who has known Soop — her son’s best friend — for nearly a decade. “It was really horrific,” she said. Her first inkling of trouble came via frantic Facebook messages from her daughter, who said police were everywhere and that she was hiding.
“That message scared me,” she said. “I was frantic.”
She wouldn’t learn more until several hours later, when her kids were released after questioning by homicide detectives.
Soop — joined by Heavy Runner’s son and her daughter and boyfriend — arrived at the 37th Street S.W. home of a girl her son was dating.
The laid-back evening was interrupted by the arrival of two more guests — people not known to Soop or her kids but seemed to be invited by the woman hosting the party, she said.
“I always talk to my kids ... wherever you’re at, please don’t go out and party with strangers,” she said.
The pair were soon joined by a third male, and they started drinking heavily — and becoming increasingly aggressive toward Soop, who at 6-foot-1 and 250 pounds was easily the largest man in the room.
Not one to back down from a fight, Soop chose to stand up for himself and his friends.
That’s when things turned violent, Heavy Runner said.
“They attacked my son and Darby, hitting them with 40-pounder (40.oz.) bottles on the head, the face.”
Brandishing machetes and bear spray, they allegedly began spraying Soop and her son, before the altercation spilled outside.
The two attackers chased after the two, catching up to Soop in the Westbrook Mall parking lot.
“My son wasn’t sure if they used the machete on (Soop) or the baton to get him to the ground, but they started stomping on him,” she said.
“My son ran into a gym, so they turned back around — he thinks they went back to Darby to finish the job.”
She said both men fled before police arrived.
Homicide detectives are seeking Christian Whitebear, 25, and Matthew Crane-Watchmaker, 19, in connection with the killing.
Heavy Runner said her griefstricken kids have received death threats in the days since, forcing them into hiding.
As police continue to build their case, she said the community is doing what it can to deal with the loss of Soop.
“Everybody’s heartbroken,” she said. “Everybody’s lost a good person.”