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Residents of the neighborhood where a mother of four was fatally stabbed Thursday in a playground are devastated and angry, the head of the community association said Saturday.

But they are also eager to help.

“There was a wave of offers to help the family,” said Audrey Bélanger, president of the Hunt Club Community Association. As she spoke, residents continued to lay flowers at the memorial, also including signs and stuffed animals, next to the playground where Brkti Berhe was stabbed Thursday morning.

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The association collects donations to help the woman’s family. “It’s not the wealthiest part of our neighborhood. We want to support the family,” said Bélanger.

Berhe’s two oldest children attend a nearby Catholic school. Bélanger said some parents of children at the school gathered in the playground Friday evening and talked about how difficult it was for all of them to watch what Berhe’s children were going through – as well as their friends and classmates. .

Eyewitnesses said Berhe, 36, was fatally stabbed by a man who jumped out of a car and attacked her with a knife. Bystanders comforted Berhe as she died, while others tended to her two youngest children and three men chased the attacker’s car and took photos of her.

Police called the actions heroic and said it helped them make a quick arrest on Highway 417 near Casselman, east of Ottawa, shortly after the attack.

Fsha Tekhle, 36, has been charged with first-degree murder. Police said he had a domestic relationship with a member of the victim’s family and believed he was returning to Montreal when he was arrested.

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On Saturday, despite a cold wind, neighborhood residents continued to stop at the park to pay their respects and lay flowers. Children were playing nearby.

Carlys Draper said she was driving in the neighborhood around 11:30 a.m. Thursday, shortly after the stabbing. She saw a police officer spread a blanket over Berhe’s body.

“There was a man looking at the body and another woman holding his head,” Draper said. I am so sad and I hope justice is served.

A vigil at the site is planned for Tuesday at 6 p.m. River Ward Coun. Riley Brockington said it was organized to help community members heal and to provide support where needed, especially to those who were directly involved or helped at the scene.

“It’s really about the community coming together and drawing strength,” Brockington said.

He said information on how people who might need it could receive professional help to deal with the trauma would be available.

“The fact that this took place in a park that is highly visited and popular with families further adds to the horror of this event,” Brockington said. “The violent nature of the incident only compounds the community response, including an outpouring of grief, flowers laid and an outpouring of offers of help from people who don’t know the family but want to help improve the situation.

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Several residents of the neighborhood choked up while talking about the stabbings.

“That it happened in a children’s park. It breaks my heart,” said neighbor Lina Gosselin. “I was here with my granddaughter every day a few years ago during the pandemic, and I thought how sad it was that children were witnessing this. This should not happen in our country.”

Maria McRae, who had been a longtime city councilor in the area and still lives nearby, said she was walking Thursday and passed police cars and emergency responders in the park.

“When we found out what had happened, there were no words to describe how horrible we felt. It’s such a terrible tragedy,” McRae said.

She said she met a young man along the trails behind the park who had just witnessed the scene and was so shaken he needed to talk about it. In the neighborhood, she said, people were devastated and traumatized by the stabbings.

McRae and others who came to the park Saturday said they were glad police called Berhe’s killing a femicide to draw more attention to the killing of women because of their gender. This was the second time in three months that the Ottawa Police Service had used the term.

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“It’s an appropriate word,” McRae said. “As a society we must do better. I think talking about it is helpful, and having an appropriate word to describe it is helpful. We need to talk about femicide. It’s 2024. We have a long way to go.

Deputy Police Chief Trish Ferguson posted on social media platform X: “Another horrific murder of a woman in Canada’s capital because she is a woman. Femicide and violence against women constitute an epidemic in Canada. Ashamed.”

Bélanger, of the community association, said she also hears residents’ anger over the issue of femicide.

“I hope there will be a discussion about femicide,” she said. “I think the residents heroically did everything they could to support Berhe (on site) and his family. Now the community wants to know what is going to be done at a higher level. We have the impression that this has no place in 2024.”

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