Young man killed by LRT remembered as a 'good kid' by family

The young man who lost his life on an the LRT tracks in Edmonton is being remembered by family members as a 'good kid' with a bright future ahead of him. Jamie Kootenay, 19, and a 19-year-old woman were killed when they were hit by an LRT train.

The accident happened on Tuesday night around 8:15pm. Investigators say a group of six young adults including Kootenay was walking east of a marked LRT crossing at 82 Street and 113 Avenue, when a northbound LRT train struck him, and a woman who had stopped on the tracks. Kootenay was pronounced dead on scene, and the woman was transported to hospital where she passed away.

Kootenay's aunt and grandmother, visibly shaken, visited the scene on Wednesday morning.

"He was a good kid," his aunt said, adding that his family can't figure out what he would have been doing near the trains. "What was he doing on the tracks? He's not like that, that's dangerous!"

Kootenay's grandmother says her grandson had big plans for his future.

"He said 'I'm going to go to Army Grandma' and I said no, simply because people going to army seem to come home in a bodybag, and I didn't want to see that."

The Edmonton police homicide section has been called to investigate whether the deaths were accidental or criminal. An autopsy has been scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. Kootenay's family says they were notified about his death by police, but not before they made the devastating discovery on their own.

"We found it on Facebook." Kootenay's grandmother said through tears. "I'm so upset that that Facebook crap is how we had to find out. It's so hard."

Anyone with information about the incident is urged to contact the Edmonton Police Service at 780-423-4567, or Crime Stoppers by phone at 1-800-222-8477 or online.