Which is why it's just as well to post the entire story. These news links change often and for a while trying to access the site to do a search was locking up my computer.
Although it's not a problem for folks like me with cable access those on dial-up don't really like having to open the second window to read a story.
---------------------------------
Tragedy strikes theatre family; daughter shot on Vancouver street
Cam Fuller and Joanne Paulson
The StarPhoenix, with CP Files
Tuesday, January 06, 2004
Rachel Davis was shot and killed on the streets of Vancouver's Gastown as she tried to save a man from being kicked to death, according to a friend who witnessed the incident that led to the shooting.
Davis, 23, is the daughter of 2003 Gemini Award-winning actress Janet Wright, who was born in Saskatoon and whose family helped found Persephone Theatre 30 years ago.
Retired drama teacher Bob Hinitt knew Wright during the early days of Persephone.
"It must just destroy her," Hinitt told The StarPhoenix when he heard of her daughter's death.
Davis's friend Vaughn Neville said he, Davis and four others had been in the Purple Onion nightclub on Water Street when the bar closed at 4 a.m. Saturday.
Outside, they found a dozen young people -- an Asian group and an Indo-Canadian group -- arguing.
One man fell to the ground and was surrounded by five or six others who took turns kicking him in the head until he lost consciousness.
Davis -- entirely in character, according to her family -- jumped into the fray and shielded the unconscious man with her body, says Neville.
"I was surprised how fast she got in and was in the middle of it," said Neville. "That's when the gun came out. I saw two guys, two of the East Indian guys, get shot at point-blank range.
"He started shooting in other directions. And that's when I started running."
One of his friends chased the gunman, who turned round and opened fire.
Neville returned to the scene of the shooting only to find Davis on the ground, a bullet through her forehead, fighting for her life.
"She put up a huge fight," said Neville. "She knew we were there. We held her hand. She breathed for us really well. Because of the severity of her gunshot, we all kind of knew she wasn't going to make it to the hospital. We just kept her calm and did what we could for her."
As Neville feared, Davis didn't make it.
Her distraught parents are not surprised that she risked her life to save a stranger.
"The way she died was awful, but at least it was in the spirit of her courage and character," her father Bruce Davis said.
"What can I say? She's one of the most courageous, loyal and loving young women that almost anybody who knows her has ever known."
"She just couldn't stand people being badly treated like that and had no qualms about going into a fight and it always worked, until now."
Rachel's mother said she was grateful her daughter had at least spent the holidays with her family. Both parents say they bear no ill-will toward the people involved in their daughter's death. They only want her to be fondly remembered.
"We're not interested in vengeance, in 'whodunit' at this point. We just want to make sure that her soul's been properly captured, because she had lots of it," her father said.
Saskatoon's theatre community is shocked and saddened by the tragedy.
Acting circles are intimate, and everyone seems to have crossed the Wright family's paths.
"That's just tragic news,'' said actor and director Henry Woolf.
"I met (Davis) when she was a lovely little girl of three.''
This isn't the first tragedy to strike the family. Twelve years ago, Wright's sister Susan and her parents, Jack and Ruth, died in a house fire in Stratford, Ont.
The Wright siblings, Janet, Susan, John and Anne, grew up in Saskatoon and went on to notable careers in theatre, film and television.
Janet won the Gemini Award for her acting in the TV movie Betrayed, which was filmed in Saskatchewan.
One of the family's great legacies is Persephone Theatre.
John Wright, who appeared in the theatre's first play, has returned from his home in Edmonton for several roles over the years. Most recently, he played Prospero in Persephone's production of The Tempest this past fall.
"I'm shocked. I feel very, very close to John Wright,'' said Tibor Feheregyhazi, Persephone's artistic director.
"I have no words. What a tragedy around that family. I just hope that this is the end of it.''
As the news sank in, his thoughts turned to Janet.
"I know she's a very, very strong lady and the pain will be hidden behind many masks.''
Hinitt remembers when Janet's mother, father and sister were killed in the 1991 fire. She was performing in Winnipeg in Not Wanted on the Voyage.
"She said the only way she could keep going was to stay in the play and not go to Stratford."
Later, she took over a role of Susan's at Stratford, and wept during the curtain calls, he said.
© Copyright 2004 The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon)
Gee, looks like Canada needs some tougher handgun laws, like Chicago or Washington D.C. 