Burnaby family mourns teen slain during unruly Whistler weekend
A distraught Mitch Gordic said he would happily change places with his teenage son, Luka, who was stabbed to death in Whistler over the weekend.
“I wish I died and he could have lived,” the tearful Burnaby father of four told The Province. “This is the worst that could happen.”
An unruly holiday weekend in Whistler — with people on the street saying roaming groups of men were actively looking for trouble — resulted in two stabbed teens, both 19.
Luka Gordic was stabbed Saturday just before midnight near Main Street, while another teen was stabbed, but not fatally, just before midnight Sunday on Whistler Way. Police don’t believe the stabbings are related.
“At this time there is nothing to indicate that this incident was related to the incident on Saturday night,” said Sgt. Rob Knapton of the Whistler RCMP.
Luka’s dad said his youngest son never stood a chance. Mitch said he’s been told that Luka was “ambushed by 10 to 15 people” as he walked to his hotel from a nightclub.
“I guess they organized themselves and they had knives and then they cut his artery,” said a tearful Mitch from his Burnaby home. “I can’t believe they did this to him. Luka was one of the nicest, most beautiful persons. Every family would want a son like that ... He loved all his family.”
A recent graduate from Burnaby Central Secondary, Luka was training to be a plumber.
One of Luka’s cousins phoned Mitch at 1 a.m. on Sunday to say that Luka had been hurt. Mitch and his wife jumped in their car and began driving to Whistler, thinking they would go pick him up. But the teen had already been rushed to a local medical clinic.
Before the couple even made it to the city limits, they received another call saying their son had died.
Luka’s brother is now demanding that the mountain resort municipality, which has a reputation as a party town that can fill up with both happy revellers and obnoxious drunks on long weekends, take action to stem what he sees as a rising problem of unchecked violence.
“Something’s got to be done,” said older brother Milos Gordic. “You’ve got innocent kids getting stabbed. It shouldn’t happen to anyone.”
Whistler Mayor Nancy Wilhelm- Morden expressed her condolences to the Gordic family, but stressed that the resort town is a safe place and the two violent incidents were isolated and unrelated.
The municipality has taken steps over the last two years to curb the rowdiness and disorderly behaviour by out-of-town graduating high-school students who come to Whistler to party on the Victoria Day long weekend, she said.
It has launched outdoor festival GO Fest in an effort to take back the municipality and “my understanding was the vibe was very positive, and the various activities were wellattended with lots of families,” said Wilhelm-Morden.
She said council will assess both incidents to learn lessons they can implement next year.
Whistler RCMP have several suspects in custody, and the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team has been called in to lead the investigation.
The victim of the Sunday stabbing was treated at a local clinic and then transferred to Vancouver for further treatment.