Terror from afar struck home in 2017 when local residents fell victim to terrorist attacks abroad.
Jordan McIldoon, a Maple Ridge man who worked at Surrey’s Jacob Bros. Construction, was among the 58 shot dead in Las Vegas at the Route 91 Harvest Festival on Oct. 1.
“This is a tragedy and breaks my heart to see what the world has come to,” said Alina Diaconu, who knew McIldoon.
Kevin Sears, of Surrey, was also shot but survived.
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(Kevin Sears and his wife in Las Vegas. Facebook photo)
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He and his wife Colleen had been at the Route 91 Harvest Festival concert when the gunman opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel, killing 58 and injuring nearly 500. The bullet passed three inches below his shoulder blade and then six inches out underneath his arm.
Ian Moore Wilson of White Rock was with his wife Valerie when a van plowed through a crowd in Barcelona, Spain, on Aug. 17.
He was one of 15 killed. More than 120 were injured.
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(Ian Moore Wilson with Valerie, his wife of 53 years. Photo: Submitted)
His daughter Fiona Wilson told Black Press, “My dad’s passing leaves an immense void in our tight-knit family. He was desperately loved by us all and will be dearly missed.”
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Meantime, two Surrey residents who were stranded by Hurricane Irma in September had to find their own way home, no thanks to the Canadian government. Balraj Mann, stranded in Cuba, and Manpreet Takhi, stranded in St. Maarten, got home without the feds’ help.
Also, the 7.3 magnitude earthquake that hit near the border of Iraq and Iran on Nov. 12 had local ramifications, with one Guildford family losing many relatives.
SEE ALSO: VIDEO: Surrey family trying to help desperate earthquake victims in Iraq and Iran
“I have a lot of family that got killed in there,” Surrey resident Parveneh Palani told the Now-Leader.
“My cousin and his six children and his wife were killed. I have another second cousin in a village. He wife and two kids were killed, too. And I have another cousin that went to his friends for an evening gathering – he’s a priest, was a priest – there were eight or nine people, the whole family, they were all killed. My brother-in-law, his sister and four kids and his brother-in-law, and plus they had 60 tenants, the whole complex, none of them lived.”
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A memorial erected to Jordan McIldoon in Las Vegas. (Photo: Submitted)
