Student knifed to death outside his Oshawa high school

'Good kid' murdered

By TAMARA CHERRY, Toronto Sun

Last Updated: March 31, 2010 8:48am


Oshawa student and football player Michael "Biggie" MacDonald Jr. was slain at a bus stop near his high school Tuesday afternoon.
Oshawa student and football player Michael "Biggie" MacDonald Jr. was slain at a bus stop near his high school Tuesday afternoon.

* Share your favourite memories of Michael "Biggie" MacDonald Jr.

A Grade 11 student slain outside his school Tuesday was remembered as a friendly athlete whose only enemy was the young man accused of killing him.

It was about 2:15 p.m. when what police called "an ongoing dispute" between two students came to a head at a bus stop across the street from Monsignor Paul Dwyer Catholic High School at Stevenson and Rossland Rds.

While police said it wasn't clear whether one of the two students involved instigated the fight that broke out, witness Samantha Passero said the dispute was "mutual."

It wasn't long before 16-year-old Michael "Biggie" MacDonald Jr. -- a star football player who was to go with his mom for his G1 licence on Thursday -- collapsed with stab wounds near the bus stop on the southwest corner of the intersection. He died in hospital before his parents had a chance to say goodbye.

An 18-year-old classmate was arrested nearby "within minutes" and was expected to appear in court Wednesday morning, Durham Regional Police spokesman Dave Selby said.

Rhonda Corby remembered her only child as "a great son, happy, lots of friends, love of my life, everything I ever wanted."

The 6-foot-1, 280-pound football player who was to turn 17 on April 23 was loved by kids in his neighbourhood and well known around the Northview Community Centre where he played basketball, Corby said.

The "good kid" had dreams of getting a football scholarship, his father and namesake Michael MacDonald said after driving in from Cambridge where he said he maintained a good relationship with his son.

"No more tears. I can't cry anymore," he said.

Corby said she was aware of the dispute her son had with the accused, but was asked by police not to comment on it.

"Where do we go from here?" she said, standing across the street from a make-shift memorial adorned with a picture of her son, a burning candle and flowers. "I never thought this would be me."

Passero described her friend as the type of kid "to never start a fight, never have problems with anyone."

The young man accused of killing him was "the one person, the only person he had problems with," Passero said. "Teachers at this school, he was friends with."

Asked about the ongoing dispute between the pair, Passero said "there was nothing that really started the fight" and there was nothing in their troubled relationship that anyone thought would leave one of them dead.

"He would have helped anyone with anything," she said of MacDonald.

According to a source, the man accused of killing MacDonald had been suspended from school because of an earlier altercation.

Durham Catholic District School Board spokesman Darlene Rich said this was the first homicide for the school board, but added of the violence, "I don't think it's anything unique to the Durham Catholic School Board."

At about 9:30 p.m. more than a dozen teens gathered at the bus stop where MacDonald died, many crying and hugging each other.

By this morning, more than 1,500 people had signed-up to a Facebook page dedicated to MacDonald's memory.