People in Weldon reeling after loss of beloved neighbour

A pillar of the community and a good man are just some of the ways a 77-year-old man is being remembered in Weldon.

He was the 10th victim of the mass stabbing that began on the James Smith Cree Nation and spread to Weldon on Sunday morning.

Wes Petterson was Sherry Arp’s brother-in-law.

“Losing him was a huge shock to the whole family and his grandson was in the house. He did coffee row uptown (and) he helped you out whenever he could. He was a good father and grandfather and had a very good heart. He would help anybody out,” Arp told 650 CKOM’s Brent Bosker in Weldon on Monday.

Ruby Works said she had known Petterson since she was a little girl.

“He was like an uncle to me,” said Works, who noted Petterson used to drive around town to check on other people.

“I’m trying to wrap my mind around it,” she added. “My mind is somewhere else. I went to a quiet place where there’s water. I went there for a bit to try to focus (and) try to comprehend this. He was a kindhearted man.”

Works was trying to arrange a candlelight vigil for Petterson and planned to lay flowers in his memory.

With one of the suspects — Myles Sanderson — still on the run and the police manhunt continuing, it isn’t yet clear why the victims were targeted.

“(Petterson) was a random victim and we don’t know the whole truth so we just don’t know why he was picked and why they went to his house,” Arp said. “People are just mortified that this happened. We think that our community is safe, but I guess not.”

It’s a similar sentiment expressed by Weldon resident April Audette.

“We kind of just gather together, we chat, we talk, we bump into each other, we stop, we say hi and ask how we are all doing. That for now is what will happen, and then later on, you never know. But right now, it is just an adjustment for the town to be like, ‘Wow, this happened in Weldon,’ ” Audette said.

The home of one of the stabbing victims in Weldon. (Brent Bosker/650 CKOM)

Audette lived next door to the victim for a number of years and still can’t believe he is gone.

“He was a wonderful man. We loved him,” she said. “He used to actually take our dog Molly. When we’d let her out, she’d just sit here, but when he walked by, she would go with him. So she would walk with him and he loved her company. She would like to go over to his house and you’d see him sit there giving her love and stuff.

“It will be different to not see him anymore because he was always the one who went and started the coffees over at the little town hall here so they could have their coffee in the morning because he was always up at 4:45 and he used to say, ‘I never sleep past 4:45.’ ”

Petterson was a widower and lived with his grown-up grandson. Neighbours say the grandson was the one who found him.

“You wonder how this is going to be for him, because he lost his mom and dad and to lose your grandpa in this way (will be difficult),” Audette said.

— With files from 650 CKOM’s Brent Bosker