BY KEITH LACEY
The family and friends of a young charismatic athlete originally from Sudbury are in shock following his violent death in Montreal over the weekend.
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LUMLEY |
Aidan Lumley, 20, was gunned down after an apparent dispute inside a Montreal bar early Sunday morning. Reports indicate Lumley was shot twice at point blank range outside the Vinyl Lounge in downtown Montreal.
Sources say Lumley and friends from Trent University in Peterborough, where he was studying physics, were visiting Montreal to celebrate completion of first semester exams.
Montreal police were not divulging details of the incident.
Lumley was a popular, bright, energetic and accomplished young man, said Bill Byrick, the director of athletics at Trent University, where last week Lumley was named male athlete of the week after some great results at an Ontario University Association (OUA) swim meet in London.
?We?re all reeling from this and this is a very difficult time for the university and Aidan?s teammates and his many friends here at Trent,? said Byrick.
?Aidan was an active, well-liked and very popular guy on campus and this has really impacted everyone who knew him.
?For a lot of his young friends, this has really hit them hard as they?ve never had to deal with anything like this.?
Lumley was a ?late bloomer? who made the varsity team out of hard work and a renewed dedication to swimming, said Byrick.
It?s always tragic when someone young dies, but when a life so full of promise is snuffed out because of senseless violence it hits particularly hard, said Byrick.
?It?s very tragic and such a waste,? he said. ?Aidan was a bright, social guy going out on the town for some fun and in the blink of an eye his life is taken from him. It?s such a waste.?
Because Trent is such a small campus, most of the student population knew about Lumley?s death Monday and it?s been very tough carrying on without him, said Byrick.
?There?s been a lot of tears and a lot of people just don?t know what to do,? he said. ?The members of the swim team knew Aidan would want us to carry on so we decided to practice in his honour today (Tuesday) and we?ll dedicate the rest of the season to him.?
Senior management and students are working on plans to honour Lumley with a memorial service and details should be released in the next day or so, said Byrick.
Funeral arrangements have not yet been finalized, but Byrick said he believes Lumley will be buried in Sudbury.
The Montreal police spokesperson said police stopped a car seen fleeing the area, but the driver was not a suspect, but a witness in the case.
At Northern Life press time Tuesday, no arrests had been made in the case.
