Tanya Burkholder doesn’t want to be telling her story and revisiting tragic memories but the weekends shooting has led her to share her story in hopes it may help.
“No offense but the only reason I’m doing this is for the families, to let them know that they aren’t alone right now.” Burkholder said in response to why she accepted our interview request.
She says the grieving process will take many forms for many different people but those closest to the deceased are now linked in a tragic way “People will say I know what you’re feeling and in a way they might, but really unless it happens to you, you really can’t know.”
She worries that those people may feel alone right now and she extended her help to them “When they are ready, I just want them to know me and my family are here if they just need someone to hold their hand or listen we are here.
Burkholder’s father RCMP Saregent Derek Burkholder was the last Nova Scotian Police Officer to die in a shooting back when he responded to a call in 1996 in Lunenburg County.
After his death (Tanya) Burkholder says that the community around the South Shore was incredibly helpful “I never really got the chance back then to thank the community so I just wanted to say now, Thank you to the community for all you did back then. It really meant a lot.”
Burkholder says it took years to learn to deal with the loss of her father and she feels deeply for those going through what she did nearly 24 years ago.
