A Red Deer physician who knew Dr. Walter Reynolds describes him as a family man.
Dr. Peter Bouch said Reynolds was a great father and husband, who loved his two children.
“In my knowings of him, he was a family man. He spoke about his two kids, enjoyed spending time with his family, and in all, he was a really good doctor,” said Bouch, adding his patients loved the physician.
Bouch and Reynolds are both originally from South Africa. They were friends and colleagues.
Bouch said in his 27 years of practice in Canada, he has never seen an incident like the one that killed Reynolds.
On Monday, at around 11:10 a.m., Red Deer RCMP responded to an assault in progress at the Village Mall Walk-in Clinic. Reynolds was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries and subsequently died.
The Red Deer physician community isn’t that big, but it’s big enough that everyone knows each other, and is “tight knit,” said Bouch.
“A lot of us come to Canada (as medical doctors) for safety and to bring our children up in safety, and this has definitely been a major shock to all of the physicians in Red Deer, and especially the African physicians. It’s tragic.”
The Red Deer doctor feels for Reynolds’ family, especially right now, with the pandemic’s travel restrictions.
“Because their family is in South Africa, now compiled on top of this tragic event, we also have the pandemic and it restricts travel,” he said.
Bouch cannot think of any reasons why someone would go to such extreme lenghts to hurt a physician.
Reshmi Lata said Tuesday Reynolds was her son’s doctor, outside the Village Mall Clinic, at the vigil. After hearing of the incident, the woman couldn’t sleep Monday night.
mamta.lulla@reddeeradvocate.com
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