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A memorial of flowers, balloons and stuffed animals was growing on Wednesday outside the Red Deer. Alta., walk-in clinic where Dr. Walter Reynolds was fatally attacked. (Travis McEwan/CBC)

Patients were sitting in the waiting room of a central Alberta walk-in clinic, waiting for their appointments. They heard a commotion, then heard someone screaming for help, and calling out for 911 to be called. That desperate voice called out 'Help me!'. When one of the clinic staff, rushed over and pushed open a door she rushed right back out and called for help. Two large men who had been in the waiting room went through the door and though the details have not yet been released, may have attempted to restrain a man holding a hammer and a machete -- and to give aid to a dying man.

Dr. Walter Reynolds  (Walter Reynolds/Facebook)

That man was 45-year-old Dr.Walter Reynolds a father of two young girls, who had emigrated from South Africa a decade or so earlier to practise in Alberta. And it was Dr.Reynolds who had, in fact, set up the Village Mall Walk-in-Clinic. It was 11:00 a.m. on Monday. Police responded to the 911 call for help in a matter of minutes. Deng Mabiour of Red Deer, Alberta now faces a first-degree murder charge in the death of Dr.Walter Reynolds, the man whose passion was to serve people like him, as a medical professional.

It is entirely possible that the arrested man is, as he claims, mentally ill. For, when he made that statement to explain why it is that he cannot recall anything that occurred, he ended his explanation with a laugh. Reiterating that he needs a doctor despite having murdered one who tried to aid him. From among the many and varied communities of refugees arriving in Canada, people who have undergone the experience of internecine violence, in a culture of tribal, clan and sectarian antipathy, an unsurprising number of people suffer from mental illness.

Or, put another way -- bring their primitive violence against others with them, so deeply ingrained is it. Canada does its best to provide compassionate support through government and private-sector resources, providing language services and English as a second language, funding for accommodation, welfare services and medical needs to be met. Integration into the prevailing culture of Western values and social, civil behaviour is more readily hoped for than accomplished. 

The arrested man is charged as well with assault with a weapon and assaulting a police officer.

Deng Mabiour has been charged with first-degree murder, assault with a weapon and assault. (Facebook)

Dr.Reynolds was rushed to hospital but there was no power on earth that could have retrieved him from the possession of the Angel of Death. The man who had dedicated his life to the healing profession and whose regard for others and determination to help wherever he could, had his aspirational future rent from his grasp and in one fell swoop his community became that much poorer in their bereavement. Arrested at the scene, Mabiour appeared in court on Wednesday.

One officer was struck with the hammer that Mabiour wielded, while attempting his arrest. This officer's treatment in hospital will be far more effective in restoring him to normal duty. Mabiour, according to court documents, is accused as well of carrying, using or threatening to use a "machete or an imitation" against Dr.Stephen Nel, another physician who works at the clinic. Dr.Nel escaped harm.

Memorial outside the clinic. (Travis McEwan/CBC)

"It's a shock to the whole of Red Deer, not only to the physicians, but also to the many medical staff that work in our clinic. And I think a lot of them are looking over their shoulder today and are quite anxious. It's utter shock and horror. Every emotion goes through you, that such a thing could happen to a physician in their clinic while seeing a patient. I think all of us today are in the same mindset. Why did this happen and what can we do to try and prevent this in the future? He was a family man and an all-around very friendly, great guy. He was an excellent doctor. You know, he really cared about his patients. He was a great doctor and a great family man."                                                                                                               Dr.Peter Bouch, one of a tight-knit South African expatriate physician group in Red Deer