'It was the most horrific scene': Witness recalls aftermath of deadly attack on Muslim family in London, Ont.
WARNING GRAPHIC LANGUAGE: A London, Ont. mother of four described the horrifying aftermath of Sunday’s attack on a Muslim family, after being among the first on the scene.
Jenny Carp says she was driving home from her grandmother’s house when she saw chaos unfolding right before her eyes.
“I saw one body on the road, and one on the side, and initially I thought maybe it was pedestrians had gotten into a fight, and people had to be pulled over. But then I saw a third body, and then a fourth body. I knew something horrific had happened."
At that point, Carp immediately pulled into a side street and went running to help.
“The first body I saw, I had no doubt that it was a fatality. I went up to the other woman, and nobody was responsive. And then there was a little boy, he was responsive, so I yelled out there’s a little boy."
Carp says there was a pediatric nurse who ran to help. The two women tried to comfort nine-year-old Fayez Afzaal.
"He just kept asking, 'Where is my family? What happened?'" Carp said holding back tears.
“We just said they are being looked after, he was so brave, he was more worried about his family, crying, saying his leg hurts.”
Carp says this was the most horrific scene she had ever seen. She stayed with the young boy until paramedics came, trying to block him from seeing his family's lifeless bodies laying on the ground.
“I still can’t process it. You would never think that something like this would happen in London, Ont…never, never. I knew the moment that I was at that scene, and when I saw the bodies, and the conditions that they were in, and where they were, that this was definitely done on purpose."
Carp says they didn’t realize there was a fifth victim, 15-year-old Yumna Salman, because her body was in a field, about six metres from the rest of the victims.
It wasn’t until she saw a pink hair scrunchie on the ground, that she realized how far Yumna’s body was from the rest of the family. She says she wishes they knew, because they might have been able to save her life.
Carp, who is a stay-at-home mom to her four children, says she attended the vigil Tuesday and hopes this horrible tragedy brings change.
“We as humans have to stand up, we have to make this go away, we need to stop this, we really do.”
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