CORNER BROOK, N.L. — Lisa Mckay-Greening is about to answer a question when she pauses.
"Just one second,” she says, “I’m serving a customer.”
Her attention refocuses on her job. An example of how everyday life goes on.
For the last year, though, Mckay-Greening’s life has been anything but normal.
“We know nothing.” — Lisa Mckay-Greening
One year ago today, her brother Jorden Mckay was shot and killed in his home by a Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officer.
“It’s been hard. Definitely, it’s been a struggle,” said Mckay-Greening of the past year.
“Not knowing what happened,” she said is the hardest part.
“We know nothing.”
Determining what happened that night remains in the hands of the Ontario Provincial Police, which was tasked by the provincial Department of Justice and Public Safety to investigate the shooting since it a police officer was involved. That investigation, which started in the days immediately following the shooting, is still ongoing.
That leaves Mckay-Greening, her mother, her brother and sister in a sort of limbo.
“We can’t get any closure, not knowing what happened.”
She last spoke with someone from the OPP three weeks ago.
“She basically calls to check on us, to see how we’re doing,” she said. “It’s nice that they’re calling and checking up but, when we get that call, we hope that this is the call that we’re waiting for.
“Well, we hope, but then it’s just the same thing.”
Time after time, those regular calls have provided no meaningful update on the progress of the investigation.
“It’s nice that they’re calling and checking up but, when we get that call, we hope that this is the call that we’re waiting for." - Lisa Mckay-Greening
Mckay-Greening was on the phone with her brother when the police showed up at the door to his Carriage Lane apartment one year ago.
The RNC has said it responded to a criminal complaint there at around 11:30 p.m. and there was an alleged confrontation that led to Mckay being shot by an officer.
Mr. Mckay, 27, was known to police and had a criminal record, but his sister said there was no indication from what she heard over the phone that anything was wrong.
“Everything was calm. There was no arguing or anything like that.”
She hung up the phone and, knowing her brother would likely be leaving with the officers, drove to his home to make sure everything was turned off and the apartment locked up.
“But. when I went over, I went over to a scene with cops there and an ambulance.”
She was just told that she had to leave.
She waited just down the street till the ambulance left and called her mother.
“I just had that feeling that there was something wrong.”
Mckay-Greening and her mother waited about an hour and a half at the hospital before being told her brother was dead.
It was devastating news for the family that has always been close.
Together, they are still trying to process what happened while they grieve.
“It’s been hard,” she said of going through the year without him and feeling something missing all the time.
It’s especially hard to see his one-year-old son and three-year-old daughter growing up without their dad.
“Especially the little boy, (he) looks so much like him.”
Mckay-Greening said her brother was kind-hearted and friendly.
“He was good.”
The Western Star requested an update on the investigation from the Ontario Provincial Police, but no reply had been provided as of the time of publication.
Once the OPP’s investigation is completed the findings will have to be reviewed by the Serious Incident Response Team in Alberta.
Mckay-Greening can’t talk much about the process, but just wishes the whole incident was handled better from the start in terms of communication with her family.
And she’s hoping the answers they need come soon.
“But it will never be behind us.”
Tomorrow: Jorden Mckay’s best friend talks about the last day they spent together in the hours before the shooting.
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