The last few days have been agonizing, said Kendrah Wong, as she mourns for her son, who was killed in a dog attack earlier this week in south Edmonton.
Kache Grist, 11, was a creative boy with a wild imagination, who liked to draw and make his own plushies, Wong said. He was also polite, kind and always willing to help someone.
“He’s just the sweetest boy ever,” she told CBC News Thursday. “He held the door for ladies. He helped them walk across the street if they needed a hand. He was so gentle.”
The Edmonton Police Service is investigating the fatal dog attack that happened in the Summerside area, near 82nd Street and 11th Avenue S.W., around 8 p.m. Monday.
Responding officers found Grist severely injured after having been “attacked by two very large dogs,” police said in news release Monday.
On Wednesday, police said the cause of death was found to be a dog bite, but the manner of death is “pending further investigation.”
Grist, who lived in Osoyoos, B.C., a town in southern B.C., was in Edmonton visiting his father. He was set to return to B.C. a few hours after the fatal attack occurred.
“I just regret letting him go,” Wong said. “The last thing I said to him was, ‘Come over here. I feel like I’m never going to see you again and I’m going to miss you.’
“So I came over and he gave me five big hugs, three kisses and said ‘I love you.'”
One of Wong’s most recent fondest memories with her son is when she took him to meet actors for the TV show The Walking Dead for Edmonton Fan Expo. That experience let him to dive deep into his love of reading and comic books.
Police said the dogs belong to a roommate of the boy’s father.
Wong said she was told by the boy’s father that they were cane corso dogs.
The City of Edmonton says Animal Control peace officers had previously visited the house twice this year to investigate other complaints of dog attacks.
Wong said the loss of her son has been devastating.
“We had plans to travel the world,” Wong said as she spoke about Grist’s wish to see the world after graduating from high school.
“I said you want to go? We can go tomorrow.
“He was my world, 100 per cent.”