U of O student killed
Philosophy student had just finished summer job with Yellowknife airline
Twenty-year-old dead after altercation in Yellowknife,
A 20-year-old University of Ottawa student died over the weekend after an altercation in Yellowknife, where he was working for the summer. The RCMP are calling the incident suspicious.
Emerson Curran, described as a bright philosophy student heading into his third year at the university, was the son of Michael Curran, who is publisher of the Ottawa Business Journal and president and part owner of its parent company, Great River Media.
Emerson Curran was working for the summer as a “float base dock hand” at Air Tindi, a small, Yellowknife-based airline that flies throughout the Canadian Arctic.
He had finished his work with the company a week earlier and had been planning to leave Yellowknife on Saturday.
The tragedy took place the night before his scheduled departure.
Jillian Gummo, Curran’s girlfriend, said she spoke to him earlier Friday evening and he told her he was considering going to a party but was feeling too tired and didn’t think he’d go.
Curran did end up heading to the party, and it was there that the incident took place.
RCMP have released very few details about what took place, and haven’t identified the victim beyond that he was 20 years old.
In a media release, they said that shortly after midnight Friday night, the Yellowknife detachment responded to a call in the Range Lake area of Yellowknife.
“A 20-year-old male was reported to be in need of medical attention after an altercation at a house party,” the release said. He was taken to hospital by ambulance, then flown to Edmonton.
On Sunday he was pronounced dead.
“The death is being treated as suspicious in nature,” the release said, and is being investigated by the RCMP’s major crimes unit.
Michael Curran told the Citizen on Monday he was not yet ready to speak about his son’s tragic death.
However, his business partner at Great River Media, Mark Sutcliffe, said the news was just devastating.
“I went into the office this morning to let my friends and colleagues know what had happened and everyone was in shock and completely stunned and devastated ... for Mike and Catrina and their family,” said Sutcliffe, who is also a Citizen columnist.
Emerson, or Em, as he was often known, was the eldest of four kids and had played football for St. Peter Catholic High School in Orléans.
“He was a great kid and they’re a great family, a very close-knit family,” said Sutcliffe, who described Emerson as a hard-working, mature young man.
Rob Willis, store manager of the Farm Boy in Orléans, where Curran had held a part-time job in the produce department, said the young man was responsible and went about his work in a thoughtful way.
“He was reliable, and just a great young guy. I mean, we’re all kind of dumbstruck here with everything that’s gone on. It’s really shocking.”
In spite of that shock, Curran’s family found it within themselves to help arrange to have his organs donated. By Monday afternoon it appeared that his heart and other major organs would be matched to recipients in need.
Gummo, who went up to Yellowknife to spend a week with her boyfriend in late July, said Curran was honest, non-judgmental, happy and intrigued by life.
“He was really interested in learning about everything,” she said. “He was genuinely interested in everything that everyone had to say. He just took knowledge from everyone.”
She said he called her Friday night after she’d gone to sleep and left what would be a last message.
“He told me that he loved me and that he’d talk to me tomorrow.”
Yellowknife RCMP asked that anyone with information call 867-6691111 or CrimeStoppers at 1-800-2228477.