Darrel Crimeni broke down as he described finding his grandson Carson on the ground in a Walnut Grove park, police using an oxygen mask to try and revive him.
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“They left him lying in a concrete ditch,” Darrel wept with rage.
“They killed him for entertainment. They murdered him.”
Carson was staying with his grandfather, just down the road from the park.
When the 14-year-old didn’t get home by his 7:30 p.m. check-in last Wednesday, Aug. 7, and he didn’t respond to multiple messages to his cellphone from his father and grandfather, Darrel went looking for him.
“I phoned him 12, 14 times,” Darrel recalled, then hit the road to find him at about 10 p.m.
Out driving around in search of the boy, Darrel saw flashing red lights in the park near their home. His heart filled with dread.
He arrived just in time to see the police struggling to save Carson.
“He was breathing, struggling to breathe, lying on his back,” he recalled. “They couldn’t save him.”
“He was 200, 300 feet from home,” Crimeni shared with the Langley Advance Times.
“I think he was trying to get home.”
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Since that night, he said he has heard multiple accounts of the events leading up to Carson’s death from different people.
“I’ve had emails, text messages and young people come with their mothers,” he said.
All the different narratives appear to agree on the sequence of events.
Carson agreed to try some pills.
He was given a “horrendously” large dose, then another after he got high, which was forced in his mouth when Carson objected.
“He thought they were his friends,” the grandfather recounted, noting the young teen was anxious to fit in.
“He trusted them. They were older than him, 18, 19, 20.”
He described his grandson as an avid hockey player and an accomplished cook, who barbecued ribs for a visiting aunt a week before his death.
Police found Carson’s cellphone in a garbage can.
At the request of the RCMP, Crimeni said the family is asking the community to remain calm and not take matters in their own hands.
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A statement issued on behalf of the family by his aunt, Diane, pays tribute to young Carson:
Only days ago we were playing in the backyard with my new puppy, taking photos and chatting about life. You laughed as I pulled acorn after acorn out of his mouth and we stomped around in the thick leaves so he could pounce on our feet. It was funny. It was easy. You laughed the whole time.
We raised you as a family from a brand new baby boy - you were all of ours. I took you to soccer practices and coloured pictures with you. You even let me paint your nails once. You were only three, and you thought it looked great. So did I.
In true Italian style you loved food and to cook. You always wanted to make the family dinner. Even the last day I saw you, you barbecued us ribs. So happily, so generously.
You loved to make everyone laugh, you were goofy, you were silly. A jokester and a clown. You wanted recognition and friendship above all else. You just wanted to belong.
This boy was so loved. His father’s best friend and his auntie’s greatest gift. He was the treasure of our family. He was beautiful. His blue eyes were perfect and his blonde hair was one of a kind in our family. He was our only child.
Losing a child is one thing. Losing a child to his own mistakes is another. But losing a child to the inhumane acts of others for their own entertainment is completely unfathomable. He was just a boy. A teenager with a life ahead of him. He was ours… and now he is gone.
How anyone could have done this to you hurts my soul in a way I cannot express. The lack of humanity, exploiting him in his final hours of suffering. Throwing his cell phone into a garbage can. Taking his shoes and leaving him to die alone. Laughing at his pain. It is inhumane. It is evil. It is unthinkable and it is unbelievable. It’s a side of humanity you don’t think can exist - and it took our little boy from us.
We are grateful for the community coming together and the people who have come forward. Nothing will bring him back or change how he died. But we truly appreciate the support that has been pouring out.
If anyone has information we ask you to please come forward - anonymously if you choose. We are looking for answers, understanding, and closure for this beautiful boys life. We never want this to happen again - and it doesn’t have to if we stand against it as a community.
Rest in peace sweet Carson.
We love you.
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Is there more to this story?
Email: dan.ferguson@langleyadvancetimes.com
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