'I just had to try to help,' says nurse who tried to save victims of London attack
WARNING: This story contains graphic language/content some readers may find disturbing.
Miranda Campbell and her family were driving home Sunday night when they pulled up to a line of cars stopped at a green light.
Drivers were coming out of their vehicles, talking on their cellphones.
Maybe it's a car crash, she thought, but there weren't any damaged vehicles.
Then she saw the injured on the ground.
"You should go out there and help," her husband told her.
Campbell, a nurse practitioner in London, Ont., was scared and confused.
There were no ambulances, no police, just bystanders on their phones pacing," she said.
When she opened the car door, the full thrust of the scene hit her.
"I'm trying to figure out what the hell happened, people were screaming and crying -- it was chaos," she said.
She recognized a local chiropractor who was trying to help. She saw a woman standing over an older woman on the ground, unsure what to do.
Campbell got down, checked for a pulse, but couldn't find one. She didn't want to move the injured woman in case of a spinal injury.
She noticed the woman's traditional Muslim clothing was in tatters, leaving her exposed.
"I just covered her up, I wanted to give her dignity," Campbell said.
Then she began chest compressions and didn't stop until a paramedic arrived and took over.
Next to her a police officer was giving chest compressions to a younger woman. Campbell took her pulse. Nothing.
"There's children, there's children," someone yelled.
She noticed a young boy on the ground.
"He was facing the whole thing: He saw his mom's body laying there, his grandma's body," she said.
Then more screams.
"There's another child!" someone yelled.
She saw a purple scrunchy on the sidewalk and a bunch of shoes.
"Their shoes were scattered all over the grass, all over the sidewalk," Campbell said.
She looked closer at the shoes.
"All these tire tracks on them," she said. "I saw the tire tracks that came up on the sidewalk, and up onto the grass, and then back out on the street again."
By then a slew of first responders had arrived.
Campbell got back into her car, where her husband and their two teenage sons were waiting, and the family went home.
But she couldn't stop thinking about the boy.
"I was praying all night that one of those adults would survive so that little, little boy is not going to be left alone," Campbell said.
"He looked so scared and shaking and helpless on the ground covered up with a blanket -- I can't get that out of my head -- I just wanted to give him a hug."
She also kept thinking about the older woman she tried to help.
"When I saw her traditional clothing, I thought 'I really hope this is not race related," Campbell said.
"The next day when I found out, it just made me feel 100 times worse."
Police said four members of a Muslim family were killed on Sunday when a man driving a black Dodge Ram smashed into them on a sidewalk as they waited to cross an intersection in the northwest end of the city. Police believe it was a targeted anti-Muslim hate crime.
Relatives identified the victims as Salman Afzaal, 46, his wife Madiha Salman, 44, daughter Yumna Salman, 15, and her 74-year-old grandmother. The couple's nine-year-old boy, Fayez, was seriously injured and remains in hospital.
"What the hell kind of world are we living in?" Campbell said.
Racism had been top of mind for her family. Campbell is Indigenous and her husband is Jamaican.
She said she had been talking to her children, who are biracial, about how to deal with racism, especially in the wake of the discovery of what is believed to be the unmarked graves of 215 children at a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C.
"I tell my kids 'you're gonna experience racism all the time and it's the way that you handle it is how you're going to learn,"' Campbell said.
"You can't help what other people think, but you can teach yourself not to treat other people badly."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 9, 2021.
If you need mental health help in the wake of the London, Ont. vehicle attack, support and resources are available here.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
NEW After hearing thousands of last words, this hospital chaplain has advice for the living
Hospital chaplain J.S. Park opens up about death, grief and hearing thousands of last words, and shares his advice for the living.
Some Canadian families will receive up to $620 per child today
More money will land in the pockets of some Canadian families on Friday for the latest Canada Child Benefit installment.
BREAKING Iran fires at apparent Israeli attack drones near Isfahan air base and nuclear site
An apparent Israeli drone attack on Iran saw troops fire air defences at a major air base and a nuclear site early Friday morning near the central city of Isfahan, an assault coming in retaliation for Tehran's unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on the country.
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer denied bail after being charged with killing Canadian couple
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
Ottawa to force banks to call carbon rebate a carbon rebate in direct deposits
Canadian banks that refuse to identify the carbon rebate by name when doing direct deposits are forcing the government to change the law to make them do it, says Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.
Ontario woman loses $15,000 to fake Walmart job scam
A woman who recently moved to Canada from India was searching for a job when she got caught in an online job scam and lost $15,000.
Prince Harry formally confirms he is now a U.S. resident
Prince Harry, the son of King Charles III and fifth in line to the British throne, has formally confirmed he is now a U.S. resident.
Colin Jost names one celebrity who is great at hosting 'Saturday Night Live'
Colin Jost, who co-anchors Saturday Night Live's 'Weekend Update,' revealed who he thinks is one of the best hosts on the show.
Nearly half of China's major cities are sinking, researchers say
Nearly half of China's major cities are suffering 'moderate to severe' levels of subsidence, putting millions at risk of flooding especially as sea levels rise.