Edmonton murder victims mourned
Buddhist ceremony held for six of the eight victims of murder-suicide
EDMONTON — Photographs of a boy and a girl, both their mothers and their grandparents sat atop plain wooden caskets at the front of the funeral home. Their faces stared out at the hundreds of mourners.
The six — three-year-old Valentina Nguyen and her mother Ha Truong, 33; eightyear-old Elvis Lam and his mother Tien Truong, 35; and grandfather Dang Truong, 55, and grandmother Dau Le, 55 — were among eight slain by Phu Lam, 53, in a shooting spree last week.
Phap Hoa, abbot at the Truc Lam Monastery, led the traditional Buddhist ceremony at Howard and McBride funeral home in downtown Edmonton on Tuesday. For nearly an hour his voice swept over the crowd, sending a vibration through the room. People bowed their heads and joined in the prayer in Vietnamese as bells chimed and the earthy smell of incense wafted through the room.
At the front, Valentina’s father and Ha Truong’s husband Tam Nguyen knelt and prayed before a table laden with small bowls of meat, tofu, rice, vegetables, and a teapot.
Hoa spoke on behalf of Nguyen, telling the crowd that the young father wanted to thank everyone for their support and comfort over the past week.
Afterwards, mourners stood in a line to pay their respects, bowing to Nguyen as they passed him by. He bowed in return, his face expressionless.
With his hands pressed together in prayer, his wedding band shimmered as it caught the light.
Hoa dipped a white flower in a teacup of water, sprinkling drops on each casket as Nguyen looked on. Five male friends surrounded him, protectively.
“The main thing we focus on is to remind all the souls of the victims to relieve their pain,” Hoa said after the service.
He said the prayer he delivered was meant to liberate the victims’ souls and help them find a better place in the next life, where they may find peace.
Hoa said it also reminds people of the fragility of life and the importance of spending time with loved ones.
“Try our best to come to each other like the flower because the flower is beautiful and fresh but the flower can also die tomorrow. Life is meaningful by how we come to each other,” he said.
Hoa said many people in the Vietnamese community wanted to pay their respects but weren’t able to attend the 1 p.m. service, so the family made the viewing public until closing time at 6 p.m.
The funeral for Cyndi Duong, 37, was held Monday. She was killed by Lam at her home in southwest Edmonton on Dec. 29. The funeral for the eighth victim, Viet Nguyen, 41, will be held Thursday. He was a friend of Tien Truong’s.