Facebook tributes are flooding in for a man who was identified Sunday as the victim in what police said was a drive-by shooting outside a city pub.
The messages about Darcy Douglas Coutu, 34, included dozens of photos of him cuddling with his children, or relaxing poolside with friends.
After recovering from a horrific car crash last fall, Darcy Douglas Coutu was looking forward to reconnecting with his three kids. But the 34-year-old Winnipegger's life came to a tragic end Saturday when he was killed in a drive-by shooting on the patio of a Pembina Highway hotel. Police are saying little about the city's 15th homicide of the year
"I will miss your big laugh, no matter what kind of mood someone was in, if you walked into the room there was laughs," said one friend.
"You will always be in our thoughts and prayers."
Friends say that Coutu thought, after recovering from a horrible car crash last fall, that he had gotten his life back. But after the fatal shooting about 2 a.m. Saturday, this is what Coutu will miss: His 11-year-old daughter beaming as she sits astride a brown horse on a merry-go-round.
His nine-year-old son joking around with a black face mask.
His 12-year-old daughter pulling candles gooey with icing off a chocolate birthday cake.
All of the pictures were posted to his Facebook site.
"He was an awesome friend who loved his kids," said Shauna Taylor, who said the Winnipeg man was devoted to his children. Coutu's immediate family said Sunday they were too grief-stricken to talk with reporters. One relative -- who said he considered himself a "close friend" of Coutu -- said they were left reeling from the news.
"He was a really nice person," he said. "There's all kind of speculation... we were told (by police) not to say anything to anybody."
Police said this weekend it is unclear whether Coutu -- a man who was not previously known to police -- was the intended target of the shooting at Quality Inn's Winn City Pub, a remodelled lounge in the Grant Park area with shiny benches and video golf games at 635 Pembina Hwy.
Early Saturday Coutu was at the bar with a large group of friends, said a manager, before most of them left and bullets rang out near a patio on the building's south side.
Coutu fell to the ground with serious head wounds and died in hospital later.
Police said the bullets likely came from a car driving past.
The homicide was the 15th this year in the city. The shooting was not believed to be random, said police, but an official said Coutu had no gang afiliations.
He'd recently been rebounding from a shattered relationship with the mother of his children and from serious injuries he suffered last year when he was in a car crash near Sagkeeng First Nation.
"He almost died," said the relative. "I talked to him Wednesday and he was going to go apply for a truck-driving job. He was staying (with his mother) while things got straightened out."
His children lived with their mother in Calgary, according to Manitoba court documents about a child-support dispute between the two.
Grieving relatives gathered Sunday afternoon at the modest one-storey Belmont Avenue home where Coutu and his mother lived.
"We're having a hard time," said a man who answered the phone at the house and declined further comment.
A police spokeswoman said Sunday there were no suspects in custody in relation to the shooting.
On his Facebook page, Coutu had posted dozens of photos of himself next to his three kids -- some soon after his car crash, showing the round-faced man looking wan and thin.
An autopsy is scheduled for today to determine the cause of death and how many times Coutu was shot.
Funeral arrangements for Coutu were still to be determined Sunday.
People with more information about the shooting are asked to call investigators at 986-6508, or Crime Stoppers at 786-8477.
gabrielle.giroday@freepress.mb.ca
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