‘He didn’t deserve this at all’: Surrey stabbing victim’s mom pushes for change

We’re learning more about the 17-year-old boy who was fatally stabbed on a Surrey bus this week, with his parents stressing he was a good kid with a kind heart.

Holly Indridson describes herself as being a helicopter parent. She says she had mainly driven her son, Ethan Bespflug, wherever he needed to go. However, she says he’d been taking the bus more often before the horrible event that claimed his life.

“He was taking the bus from Surrey and this all happened on the bus as he was on his way home. I was just laying in bed, waiting, to see how far he got so I could leave and be there by the time the bus gets there — a little bit earlier anyways. And I had seen his GPS start moving and it went to Royal Columbian Hospital, within two minutes he was out there. I was like, this is not right, why is this happening? So I just jumped in the car and started driving,” she recalled from the night her son was stabbed.

“I want him to have freedom to hang out with friends but at the same time, you can’t just keep them inside all the time, and it just doesn’t matter. You have to be aware that there’s just not nice people in the world, this is what we’re living in,” Indridson added, her voice breaking.

“He didn’t deserve this at all.”

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• ‘It doesn’t seem real’: Family of Surrey stabbing victim mourns teen’s death

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The mother says when she got to RCH, she was walking all over trying to find her son. It was when a social worker asked her who she was looking for that she was taken to another room and given the news.

Ethan was identified as the stabbing victim on Wednesday. Investigators have said the 17-year-old suffered life-threatening injuries after an “assault with a weapon” aboard a Coast Mountain bus in the area of King George Boulevard and 100th Avenue just before 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The Surrey RCMP added the teen was taken to the hospital, where he died of his injuries. The stabbing is said to have happened during an “altercation” between two people. No arrests have been announced and the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team has taken over the case.

“I’ve lost all my family — my mom, my dad, my aunts, my uncle, my grandparents, and now this? My kids were all that I have,” Indridson said, breaking down. “I literally asked God, ‘please never touch my children, it’s all I have.’ Life is so unfair.”

Describing Ethan — her first born — as kind and gentle, she says his siblings always thought he was “the best brother ever.”

“He was a big baby, 10 lbs.,” Indridson recalled of Ethan when he was born. “He reached all his milestones so early. He was always running around, smiling.”

“He’s a kid that likes to play. Now his play time is over cause some stupid kid, some stupid kid just decided, ‘well, it’s game over,'” Ethan’s step father, Michael Gallacher, added. “Now it’s all taken away.”

In addition to his kindness, Gallacher says the teen was a hard worker. His family explains Ethan never passed up an opportunity to lend a helping hand, offering to shovel driveways covered with snow and earning the trust of all.

“He’s always there to help, always giving a helping hand. Works for the company I worked for, a great welder. Always just pushing forward — he always wants to do better than anything else and just keeps going and going. It’s hard to stop him,” Gallacher told reporters Thursday.

“No matter what he did, he did it the best way possible.”

While investigators said there have been “no indications” this incident was connected to the ongoing Lower Mainland gang conflict, Ethan’s family is stressing the teen wasn’t involved in anything criminal or suspicious.

Indridson says she wants to be strong for her other children but admits it has and will be difficult.

“He was the most polite, young man you’d ever come in contact with. He cared about his siblings so much. He cared about his family, is very much family-oriented, and had a good group of friends. He was a really good kid, was doing really good in school,” the mother said.

“He really enjoyed life. He enjoyed his life. I know that.”

The grieving mother is calling for families and communities to intervene to support youth with violent tendencies. The family is also pushing for more police and security resources for the transit system.

“As a parent, your child is doing these things. If they’re stabbing people or beating people up, get them some proper counselling, get them some help so they don’t continue on that path,” Indridson said.

“Please, stop the violence. It’s destroying families,” Ethan’s grandmother and Michael’s mother, Kelly, added.

A GoFundMe page has been set up by the teen’s aunt, Andrea Van Der Gracht, to help the family with funeral costs.