EDMONTON — Maddie Levesque, a Tumbler Ridge Secondary School student who has been called a 'hero,' shared a message about her experience during the tragic shooting at the school on Feb. 10. "That day has changed me forever," wrote Levesque in a Facebook post on Feb. 13. "I will never forget the innocent souls we lost. Fly high, angels."Levesque was in the room with Kylie Smith and attempted save her life, with 45 minutes of CPR, after Smith had been shot by Jesse Strang (legal name Van Rootselaar). She later took it upon herself to inform Smith's parents that their daughter had not survived the tragic shooting. "It broke me to learn that at 10:00 that night — almost seven hours after it all happened — her family still had no idea," Levesque wrote. "I felt in my heart that they needed to know, and that I needed to tell them."Smith's parents have praised Levesque's efforts, calling her a 'hero' and saying that the headlines should focus on her, not Strang. ."I appreciate all the recognition from people calling me a hero, but I want everyone to know I wasn’t the only one who tried to save Kylie," Levesque wrote.Levesque wants the public to remember every hero from that tragic day.She recounts that her fellow classmates, Noah and Finn, despite being terrified during the events, found the strength to help however they could. Along with a teacher named Mr. Deely, who Levesque called the biggest "hero.""He stayed calm, talked us through everything, and did absolutely everything he could to try and save Kylie," Levesque wrote. "I will forever be grateful that I had them all by my side, working together to do everything we could."Levesque wants the public to remember every hero from that tragic day..B.C. Premier David Eby told Deely's story at a vigil in Tumbler Ridge on Friday.Deely's son was in the washroom at the time of the shooting, and the teacher was left with the choice of risking his son's life by locking the doors to his classroom or unlocking the doors and risking the lives of the students he promised to protect.He ultimately chose to lock the doors, and another teacher pulled his son into their classroom. Deely also pulled an injured student into his classroom, while a pair of students performed life-saving measures."I hope that I never called to do what those students who stepped up that day, I hope I've never called on to do what they had to do," said Eby. "But having spent a couple days here now at Tumbler Ridge, I can tell you that what they did is emblematic at this time.""The teachers in that school, every student in that school who followed the directions of the teachers, who did what they were told to do, what they trained and practiced to do, saved lives. And in those actions, in those heroic actions, are the seeds of the recovery of this community, because the future of Tumbler Ridge is in that school.".Strang, an 18-year-old biological male who had begun transitioning to female, murdered eight individuals, including five students, one teacher, and their mother and step-brother, before taking their own life.The shooting also injured 25 victims, including a pair of girls who were airlifted to B.C. Children's Hospital, where one remains.GoFundMe campaigns have been established in support of the six victims from the school shooting, along with an overall campaign to support all of the victims in Tumbler Ridge.
