The CANADIAN PRESS
Four men and two women all in their early twenties were killed in a single-vehicle crash in Barrie over the weekend.
On Monday evening, grieving family members tossed flowers into a concrete pit as they mourned the six young adults.
A detective who helped escort the family members up to a barrier at the lip of the pit told The Canadian Press that it was the site of the single-vehicle crash.
Several hours after the six were reported missing on Saturday, an on-duty Barrie police officer discovered the crash site on a stretch of McKay Road that has been closed for several months for construction.
In a social media post that has since been replaced with a post about the crash, Barrie police identified the missing young people as Curtis King, 22, River Wells 23, Jason O’Connor, 22, Luke West, 22, Jersey Mitchell and Haley Marin.
The crash had not been reported when officers came across the scene at McKay Road near County Road 27, close to Barrie’s southwest border with Innisfil, around 2 a.m. Saturday, police said.
The City of Barrie said the area is currently the site of a municipal construction project and the intersection has been closed since the spring. The construction site is being managed by city contractors to deliver the design, construction and financing of the water, sewer and road work along McKay Road and Veterans Road to service new development planned in the area.
“The road has been fully closed and signed accordingly for many months,” chief administrative office Michael Prowse wrote in a statement.
Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman has called what happened a “shocking and horrible tragedy.”
“As a parent myself this is the worst nightmare,” he wrote in social media posts on Sunday. “The six families in our city who are devastated this morning need all our compassion and support.”
Ripple of Kindness, a group of women in Barrie launched a Go FundMe account that had raised $74,000 for families of the six young people by 7:00 a.m. today (Sept. 1).
“While this is beyond our usual scope to raise funds, we feel these are extenuating circumstances,” the fundraiser reads.
“Our community has been shaken to the core, our flags are at half mast and six families are devastated at the loss of their loved ones. Let’s come together as a community and show our support.”
The group has established a committee with group members and a representative from each family to allocate the funds.