About 100 people gathered at Skansie Brothers Park in Gig Harbor on Wednesday, March 4, for a candlelight vigil in honor of four women killed on Feb. 24 near Lake Kathryn.
The crowd heard from local civic leaders and chaplains from the Gig Harbor Police Department and Gig Harbor Fire and Medic One. They lit candles and shared in community grief following the death of Zoya Shabylinka, Joanne Brandani, Stephanie Killilea and Louise Talley.
Not mentioned was Aleksandr Shablykin, the 32-year-old who killed the four women outside his mother’s home on 87th Avenue Court in Wauna. A Pierce County Sheriff’s Office deputy shot and killed Shablykin, who was the subject of a restraining order sought by Shablykina.
Documents associated with Shablykina’s order application indicate that Shablykin suffered from severe mental illness. A letter to the community from his surviving family called Shablykin “a man lost to a battle with bipolar disorder who had tragically ceased his medication shortly before this event.”
‘They were loved’
Robyn Denson, who represents the peninsula on the Pierce County Council, told the crowd that they gathered to “honor the beautiful lives that were taken from us too soon.”
The slain women were active members of the community…