A tribute for a St. Albert teen randomly attacked on a walk with his dog and mother Tuesday night is carved into a birch tree on the edge of north Edmonton.
The tree is emblazoned with a cross and ‘RIP’ in memory of Broden Radomske, 15, who died at the scene after he was stabbed by a man in a random 9:30 p.m. Tuesday attack.
A small bundle of flowers tied with a satin ribbon rests nearby.
“We’ll never forget you Broden! We’ll meet again. 5/21/24,” is written in black marker.
Edmonton city police on Thursday said Keith James Landry, 40, has been charged with second-degree murder.
‘We’ll never forget you’
The attack happened on a closed-off portion of road at the corner of Edmonton’s 137 Avenue and 184 Street.
Officers from Edmonton’s northwest division attempted life-saving measures when they were called to the scene, but were unable to save the boy.
The abandoned street where St. Albert’s residential area ends and Edmonton jurisdiction begins is popular with dog walkers and a haven for songbirds.
The cross-road peters out in a treed area, punctuated by graffitied barriers and a railroad track, and flanked at a distance by industrial buildings.
Broden and his mother were a familiar sight along the wide trail, said a St. Albert man who stopped by the site Thursday.
“We’ve seen them here before — the mom with the bike and the dog,” he said.
“We walk around here with the kids all the time. People dog-walk around here all the time, there’s trails all through here.”
Broden’s mother, at the scene Wednesday afternoon, told Postmedia the pair regularly walked their pitbull in the area, and they knew the assailant in passing.
She believed the attack was triggered by a mental episode.
Her son was walking behind her when the attack occurred, she said.
On Thursday, Cpl. Troy Savinkoff said St. Albert RCMP had not had any dealings with the suspect in the past six months.
Wide circle of friends
Broden Radomske played hockey in St. Albert in the 2023-2024 season, and basketball at his school.
He had many friends in the St. Albert school community, said district spokesperson Paula Power.
“He had a wide circle of friends, so (the loss) affected a lot of our students and a lot of members of the community,” Power said.
The district has made counselling available at the schools he had attended, and help for those mourning the loss will be available as needed, she said.
“Our staff are keeping an eye out for students and their families because many of their families knew Broden as well. So it’s quite far reaching,” she said.
A memory book of his school years is being assembled for the family, she said.
“He was very well-liked, and he had a great sense of humour,” she said.
“One of the teachers told me Broden always had a sparkle in his eye. He was just that kind of young man,” she said.
Burned-out homeless camp nearby
It’s a troubled corner.
A homeless encampment nearby burned to the ground earlier in the week.
At one side of the entrance to the barricaded road, a long-abandoned driveway’s domestic lilac bushes had yellow crime scene tape attached, then ripped off.
Behind the trees and a cement barrier, and out of direct notice, under evergreens, someone had constructed a makeshift shelter with old corrugated tin and wood pallets that had at least survived last winter.
That eight-foot by eight-foot structure was burned to the ground this week, said the man who spoke to Postmedia at the site.
“It was a full-built house that had a furnace, built from pallets and stuff,” the man said.
Nearby bean cans and an old shoe stand out amid charred clutter, a propane tank and signs someone used a fire extinguisher. The trees at the centre of the structure weren’t burned.
“I told an Edmonton city worker about it, right here, before winter,” he said.
“Nobody did anything about it.”
