After fatal stabbing, street 'family' says downtown Sudbury getting rougher, more violent

As the ambulance pulled away from a homicide scene in downtown Sudbury, Boo-Boo Brunette said it felt like he was losing a member of his family.

"It's painful," the 19-year-old said. "It's a loss that we can't take. This loss that we just suffered was catastrophic."

Brunette's friend Preston Pellerin, 17, succumbed to injuries sustained in a brutal knifing Friday morning in front of a crowded transit terminal. 

Brunette said Pellerin was part of his downtown "family," a loose collection of young adults that hang around the downtown core. 

He said they look out for one another, taking care through the ups and downs, providing what they can, even when they have very little to give.

One week after the stabbing, the "family" protested outside the Sudbury court house, where Steffin Rees,18, was in court. Rees has been charged with second-degree murder in the stabbing. 

The group stood on Elm Street, waving to passing cars while holding cardboard signs reading "Justice for Preston." 

Rees was only a slight acquaintance of the group, Brunette said, adding he had only met Rees once before. He said news of the killing made no sense to him, but he added that it can't be called unexpected.

"You don't do good things when you're downtown. You lose a lot," Brunette said. "You lose family, lose your friends, you lose your health.

"You do things that you shouldn't do, you do things that turn you into a person that you're not."

Downtown has always been a rough scene, Brunette said, but lately it's getting worse. He blames the influx of hard drugs for people's erratic behaviour.

"It's hard. There's all these new drugs out," he said. "You know the fentanyl. I was lucky enough not to ever get into that, but there's so many younger kids, or my age, that are getting into fentanyl and killing themselves.

"They're doing a shot of something or hitting something that they can't handle and then trying to kill themselves over nothing."

Melissa Bergeron said she noticed a change in the downtown a few months ago, with a proliferation of overdoses and violent assaults. 

"I don't get what's changed. I wish I knew," Bergeron said. "This wouldn't be happening. That's why we're fighting, so that maybe it'll change."

Bergeron said others, including Pellerin,  look up to her as a "mother." News of the killing shook her up, but also drew some of them closer together.  

"We keep each other going and tell each other to stay safe," she said. "If one of us doesn't have a place to stay, our couches are open. You need a couple bucks to eat food. Come see us, we'll help you. 

"We're always there to help one another, we have your back," she said. "We'll take the shirt off our back for somebody else who's cold. You know we're out here freezing but it's for our Preston."

She said she suspects the influx of hard drugs is making people more desperate, and more unpredictable when their addictions begin to dictate their behaviour.

"And the violence, that's the biggest thing," she said. "Sudbury used to be a calm place. Now we've turned into a mini Toronto."