Spa shooting victim saved the lives of others, family friend says
Last Updated: Friday, April 24, 2009 | 7:25 PM MT
CBC News
Duane McArthur, shown here in an undated photo, was killed in a shooting at an Edmonton spa Thursday. (Courtesy of Donna Shannon)Duane McArthur, the Edmonton man who died in a shooting at a south side spa Thursday, gave his own life to save his wife and two employees from a certain death, a family friend said Friday.
"He did everything he was supposed to do in that situation — everything that a courageous father should do," Donna Shannon said.
On Friday, police identified McArthur, 44, as the victim of a shooting at the Bella Tonic Spa in Mill Woods. He owned the spa with his wife, Nina Bains.
Pierre Kabema Ilunga, 18, was identified as the shooter by Edmonton police.
Police said Ilunga ran away from the spa after he shot McArthur and 10 minutes later showed up at a liquor store in the nearby Millbourne Market Mall. After Ilunga saw police outside, he turned the gun on himself. The medical examiner confirmed he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Shannon said McArthur's family is upset by initial reports of the shooting, which suggested it came as a result of a botched robbery. Police said the spa employee "confronted" the gunman, but Shannon said McArthur spoke calmly and tried to reason with him.
A man, whom police have identified as Pierre Ilunga, is shown on surveillance video from a Mill Woods liquor store moments before he took his own life Thursday. (Millbourne Liquor Store)"We need everybody to know he offered that gunman the money. It was not a botched robbery," she said. "He implored and begged the man to take the money, and he handed him his own wallet.
"And the man said he did not want his effing money."
Then the gunman tried to herd everyone into the back, including an employee who was seven months' pregnant. He also put a gun to Nina Bains's head, Shannon said.
"Duane tackled him and shouted out for them to go, to run away. And Nina said she could hear the shots as she was running out the door."
Gunman seemed dazed: store manager
The manager of the liquor store, who did not want to be named, told CBC News Friday the gunman appeared to be in a daze. He opened a bottle of vodka, began drinking it and then approached the counter, the manager said. He then started pulling out something that the manager thought was money.
Duane McArthur was killed at this south Edmonton spa Thursday morning. (Lydia Neufeld/CBC)"[It] sounded like money," the manager said. "Then out of the other pocket came a gun, and he laid it down, and I'm a couple feet away from him, and he just said to me, 'I don't want to hurt you, man,' and I beelined it to the back … where my other two working colleagues were, and we phoned 911."
The president of the Congo Association of Edmonton, Jean-Paul Lubamba, is a friend of Ilunga's family.
The young man had moved to Edmonton from Montreal a few months ago and was a quiet man who was close to his family, he said.
But Ilunga had a disturbing conversation the morning before the incident, Lubamba said
"He talked to one of his friends. He said, 'I don't know if you're going to see me today. I don't know if you're going to see me anymore,'" Lubamba said. "That is like somebody prepared to do something bad."
Lubamba said Ilunga made the statements in a way that people took as a joke.
