TORONTO -- Crowds of tearful mourners gathered to remember Reese Fallon at a public visitation on Sunday, a week after she was killed in a shooting rampage in Toronto's bustling Greektown neighbourhood.
They lined up quietly inside the east Toronto funeral home, tissues in hand, to grieve the 18-year-old who died when a gunman opened fire on pedestrians and restaurant-goers on a busy Greektown street last Sunday. Ten-year-old Juliana Kozis was also killed, and 13 others were injured - some critically.
The gunman was found dead with a gunshot wound nearby after exchanging fire with police, and two concurrent investigations into the incident - one by Toronto police and the other by the province's police watchdog - are ongoing.
At the visitation on Sunday, Fallon was remembered for her life rather than her death.
A yearbook and other high school memorabilia lay on a table in the funeral home, next to a T-shirt for the Hamilton's McMaster University, where she had been set to begin studying nursing in the fall.
Photos of Fallon as a child and as a teen lined the hallway leading into the visitation room.
The quote “I think everybody should like everybody,” attributed to Andy Warhol, was printed on the back of memorial cards handed out to those in attendance.
In an obituary posted online, Fallon's family said she will be “deeply missed but not forgotten.”
In the aftermath of her death, dozens of Fallon's classmates and teachers interrupted their summer vacations to grieve at the Toronto high school she attended, where she was remembered as a leader among her peers.
“Her plan was to become a mental-health nurse,” said Anthony Parise, Fallon's English teacher, outside of the school on Tuesday.
“Knowing what I know of Reese, she would have been an exceptional nurse, because she was a natural caregiver.”
A funeral, which will also be open to the public, is scheduled for Monday morning.
