ROBLIN, Man. — “Life is short,” begins the quote lifted from Mark Twain in the Facebook profile of a 16-year-old girl, believed to be the victim of a murder-suicide attempt by a former boyfriend.
A memorial page was quickly put up on Facebook by friends of Meagen Mancheese, who police had still failed to identify officially Thursday as the victim, a day after the shooting. While she died, the boy believed to have shot her was in a Winnipeg hospital with his own gunshot wound.
By Thursday, more than 150 friends, relatives and acquaintances had posted their thoughts about her death on the social media website, and about the person who may have been responsible.
“I hope the culprit gets what they deserve either hell on earth or the hell beyond hell. Roblin is a close town and it hits all the people the same,” wrote Lynden Wagner, who admitted he didn’t really know her well.
RCMP were saying little about what happened near the town of about 2,500 on the Manitoba-Saskatchewan boundary. Police would only confirm that they were investigating “the death of a female at a rural location near Roblin.”
But what could be pieced together suggested Mancheese was shot by a 17-year-old boy, who then may have shot himself in the head. He did not die, called 911 for help and was transported to hospital in Winnipeg in critical condition.
Mancheese’s Facebook page notes that she recently went from being in a relationship to single. A photograph shows a slim blond girl, posing with a horse.
Jack Sullivan, superintendent of the Mountain View School Division, said he was as much in the dark about the official version of events as everyone, since the RCMP have provided nothing even to school officials
“The only information we have is what we’re picking up in the media,” he said Thursday.
“Although we’re in hourly contact, they’re still not prepared to release that information to us.”
Goose Lake High School in Roblin was closed Thursday for Remembrance Day, but he said they would have a team of counsellors ready Friday when it re-opens to help students cope with the incident.
“We have our team ready to go but we haven’t activated it today. It will be tomorrow morning.”