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Family of Central Alberta murder victim trying to cope

Father-of-five Stephen Pond was fatally shot near Eckville on June 20
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Family of a Blackfalds man gunned down in front of his common-law wife last month are trying to rebuild their lives amid fear that his killer is still at large.

Stephen Pond was shot and killed on a rural road just south of Eckville on June 20 around 4 a.m. Pond was driving his pickup with his common-law wife beside him when a man appeared and fired multiple shots from across the road.

Pond, 46, was fatally wounded. His wife was not hit.

As he tried to escape, Pond backed his pickup into trees lining Range Road 34 north of Highway 11.

The shooter soon left and Pond’s wife phoned 911 and comforted her husband until police and EMS arrived.

Pond was put in a STARS air ambulance, but he died on his way to University of Alberta Hospital.

Stephen’s sister, Jamie Pond, said her brother’s wife was incredibly lucky to have survived what is being treated as a random attack.

“I don’t know how she’s still alive.”

The brutal murder has shaken Stephen’s young family. He was raising three children with his wife, aged eight, four and three. He also has a teenaged son and daughter from a previous relationship.

Pond’s wife is on a fixed AISH (Alberta Income for the Severely Handicapped) income and is still waiting for the help, both financial and emotional, her family needs.

The family, with the help of victim services, applied for help with funeral expenses from the victims of crime program.

However, because of his past criminal record, the family’s request for funeral help from victims of crime was turned down, which Jamie does not feel is fair.

“What happened to him had nothing to do with the committing of a crime. It was random.”

Jamie applied for and was approved for $1,000 for counselling. They are still waiting to hear if counselling help will be approved for the children.

Jamie has sent letters to MLAs and Justice Minister Tyler Shandro appealing for more help for her brother’s family.

Shandro announced earlier this month that the government planned to expand the range of supports available to victims of crime beginning in September. Families of homicide victims can be reimbursed for funeral expenses up to $12,500 and up to $12,000 in counselling will be available to individuals.

But Pond says there is no indication that the changes will be retroactive, meaning they are eligible for only $1,000 in counselling up to a maximum of $4,000 per family.

That is not enough, and pales in comparison to the amount that will be spent housing and feeding her brother’s murderer when he is caught.

To help out, Pond has organized a GoFundMe campaign and hopes to collect $5,000 for her brother’s family. About $1,500 had been collected by Friday.

Her brother had not had an easy life, she said.

He almost died when his snowmobile crashed through the ice when he was 17. Later in life, he would be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and severe attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Her brother also struggled with dyslexia and as a teen got into drugs. That led to run-ins with the law, although his offences did not involve violence.

“He was not violent in any way, shape or form,” she said.

Despite all of the challenges he faced, her brother was a loving father to his three youngest children, two daughters and a son, and was rebuilding his relationship with a 16-year-old son and 18-year-old daughter from a previous relationship.

“He was a good person. He would give you the shirt off his back,” she said.

“Hands-on. He was incredible. He could fix anything. He was better than most mechanics out there.”

If he came across someone with car trouble, he could often figure out the problem and fix it for them.

In recent years, he had turned his life around and was doing great, his sister said. He and his wife had just bought a home three months ago.

She said she was grateful for the efforts of the RCMP to find her brother’s killer. She was told about a dozen investigators are working on the case and the family is given updates on the investigation.

But until someone is behind bars, the family cannot find peace.



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