Many questions and few answers remain two days after a 16-year-old boy was shot and killed in his Dorval home, allegedly by his 12-year-old brother.
The road ahead will be a long one for the 12-year-old boy, whose fate now rests with the youth justice system after he was arrested and charged in the shooting death of his brother.
The boy, who cannot be identified due to the Young Offenders Act, is in detention at a rehabilitation centre.
If found guilty of manslaughter and illegal possession of a firearm, he could stay there for a maximum of three years.
“It could be so many things,” said Cathy Di Stefano, coordinator of young offenders services at Batshaw, a Montreal-based youth and family centre.
“Often what you hear, what's reported, is not necessarily what the reality is. My experience has been that.”
Di Stefano said in two decades of experience working with young offenders at Batshaw, she's never seen a 12-year-old charged with manslaughter.
This type of dramatic case is extremely rare, she said.
“Families are devastated. You don't think this is going to happen to you. You don't want it to happen to you. The parents, the family, also need a lot of support… with a team of educators, nurses, psychologists, depending on the situation, who tend to their basic needs.”
The principal at the victim's high school has also written a letter to parents about the tragedy.
"At this point in time, specific details of what took place have not been made public. Any attempt that we might make to provide details to our community would be purely speculative on our part (...) Our thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathy are certainly extended to the families affected," it read.
Police are saying little about any new developments in the case; only that the investigation is ongoing.
It's not yet clear who owned the gun used in the shooting.
If the boy took the gun from a family member who didn't store it properly, however, that person could potentially face charges as well.
