School community reaches out to help 6-year-old boy who lost mother, father in murder-suicide
A memorial has been established on the driveway of Deputy Cecilia Hoschet and Firefighter/Paramedic James M. Taylor in La Cañada Flintridge on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2015. On Sunday, Taylor killed Hoschet at the home before killing himself at a Los Angeles County Fire Department facility in Pacoima.
The La Cañada community rallied together in the wake of a murder-suicide at a home on Crown Avenue Sunday that took the lives of the parents of a 6-year-old boy who is a student at Paradise Canyon Elementary School.
As classes resumed after the Labor Day weekend, La Cañada Unified’s crisis response team was on hand to answer any questions parents might have had about talking about the tragedy to their children, according to Supt. Wendy Sinnette.
“Paradise Canyon is very much a neighborhood school, as all our schools are,” Sinnette said in an interview Tuesday, “One of the defining factors (of that) is this community comes together and provides social-emotional support to each other.”
In an email message to the school community Tuesday, Paradise Canyon Principal Debra Cradduck assured parents that teachers had spoken briefly with their classes, confirming what had happened to the family of their schoolmate.
Cradduck said some classes had begun making cards and pictures to be sent to the family. The boy is currently being cared for by his grandparents and had not returned to campus as of Wednesday.
Meanwhile, local residents are trying to raise at least $20,000 through the online site GoFundMe.com to help support the child’s educational future. More than $11,000 had been raised by midweek.
Cradduck summed up her hopes in the Tuesday email that the care shown by Paradise Canyon staff, parents and children might help facilitate the healing process.
“In times of crisis, our community’s love and support of one another brings light and hope during the darkest of times,” she wrote. “We hope the family feels our community’s support now and into the future.”
To donate online to the fundraising effort in Cecilia Hoschet’s honor, on behalf of her son, visit gofundme.com/8b3ecs7k. To help with a check, make it payable to CV Station Fund and send it to CV Sheriff’s Station, attn. Sgt. Gonzales, 4554 Briggs Ave., La Crescenta 91214.
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Sara Cardine, sara.cardine@latimes.com
Twitter: @SaraCardine
