Students and teachers gathered at a Toronto high school on Wednesday to grieve the loss of a 16-year-old boy who drowned while trying to help save a mother and child.
Kyle Howard-Muthulingam went into Lake Ontario near Woodbine Beach on Friday afternoon to assist the mother and child who were in distress. He died in the effort, while the other two were eventually pulled to safety.
His friend, Emma Keyes, says she wasn’t surprised to learn how he died.
“That’s the type of person Kyle is, to go in and risk his life to help someone out,” she told CTV Toronto.
Daunte Brown, a classmate at Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts in the city’s east end, described Kyle as kind.
“The first year I came here I really didn't have somewhere to hang, and then (Kyle) came walking down the hallway (and) he’s like, ‘Hey ... want to come hang out with us?’”
Drama teacher Jeff Newberry said Kyle had a passion for performing arts and that he was driven.
“It’s just so heartbreaking that he is not going to have the opportunity to follow that dream because he had so much specialness to bring,” Newberry said.
Kyle’s cousin, Lingram, also attended the gathering. She said the family takes solace in the fact that he died during a courageous act.
“I’m glad that this place can know him as a hero,” she said. “He truly was.”
With a report from CTV Toronto’s John Musselman
