A Walmart remains closed as a vigil grows outside the taped-off area in Halifax on Oct. 23, after the death of a 19-year-old employee on the weekend.Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press
A small memorial of flowers, prayer candles and condolence cards has been set up in a parking lot just outside a Halifax Walmart where a young woman died in a walk-in oven over the weekend.
As the police investigation unfolds, few details have come to light about how the tragedy occurred Saturday night, before first responders arrived at the bakery section of the big box store in the city’s west end.
On Wednesday, young people stopped by the memorial to pay their respects to the 19-year-old Walmart employee whose identity hasn’t been released by police. The Maritime Sikh Society, which is in contact with the teen’s family, has said the Sikh woman and her mother are originally from India and came to Canada two to three years ago.
A Sikh woman visited the memorial with two friends and added a bouquet of flowers to the collection of items attached to a lamp post in the parking lot, saying her community is devastated by the teenager’s death. The woman, who declined to give her name, said that while she did not know the victim well, she and her friends have been shaken by the death.
“We can feel it. She is so much like us,” she said. “She is very young. She is like a sister. She is just working at a bread place. She was just doing her job.”
Halifax police spokeswoman Marla MacInnis released no new information on Wednesday, repeating previous police statements that the “cause and manner” of the 19-year-old woman’s death remain unknown, and that the investigation is expected to be “lengthy.”
A Walmart worker who declined to be named visited the closed store Wednesday to add a plastic flower to the memorial. He said he didn’t know the deceased – they worked in different departments – but he felt it was important he come to pay his respects, adding that he is thinking about her family.
The worker said his Saturday shift at the store ended in the afternoon, before the teen’s death. He was in shock later that night upon learning the news through a company e-mail.
The store in the city’s west end remains closed, but a Walmart spokesperson says the company will pay employees for the shifts they had been scheduled to work. “We will consider alternate work arrangements in the event the store remains closed for a longer-than-anticipated period of time,” Amanda Moss said.
Harjit Seyan, president of the Sikh society, says the group is fundraising and helping arrange visas to bring the young woman’s father and other family members to Canada for the funeral.
“The Halifax Maritime Sikh Society will be contributing towards the travel. And then we’re trying to also set up a GoFundMe page to raise financial support for that,” he said.
“You know, the community is definitely shaken by the whole event,” he said.