Legacy garden to open in memory of Brentwood victims

By Kade Marshall, April 1 2019 —

The five families of the victims of the 2014 Brentwood stabbings are coming together to build a memorial garden in South Glenmore Park.

The Quinterra Legacy Garden project was announced on March 12. The project is being built for the five-year anniversary of the tragedy that took the lives of Lawrence Hong, Joshua Hunter, Kaitlan Perras, Jordan Segura and Zackariah Rathwell.

The founders of Quinterra Legacy Garden are family members and friends of the victims.

The five students lost their lives in an attack at a house party in the community of Brentwood on April 15, 2014. The garden is set to open in August 2019.

Shannon Miller, one of the founders of Quinterra and the mother of Perras, says there will be a ceremony upon the opening of the park.

“It would be a ribbon-cutting ceremony ideally,” said Miller.

The Quinterra Legacy Garden will be the city’s first fully dedicated musical garden and is set to include a 30-foot diameter stage with percussion instruments open for public use. The garden will host yoga sessions and literature events.

The park will have a view of the Glenmore Reservoir and will be built close to the marina.

Reflections of the personalities of the five individuals lost will be subtly represented with elements of the garden.

Miller said the stage is a tribute to Perras, who had a passion for dancing.

“She used to perform for many years,” Miller said. “Her dancing holds a place in my heart. I’ve always supported it and I always will think of Kaiti when I see dancers like her on stage.”

Percussion instruments at the park and the overall musical element pay tribute to the musical talents of Hunter and Rathwell, who played in the band Zackariah and The Prophets.

The idea of a garden is a representation of Segura’s love for socializing, the group says, and the planting of the garden represents Hong’s major in developmental studies.

Miller says the garden is open to everyone and hopes that people will gather there with their friends, family and loved ones.

“It’ll remind me of the kids,” she said. “Kaiti and I used to go for coffees in the park and I want people to have the same experiences that we did together.”

The garden will also host yoga sessions and literature events. The number five is another recurring theme of the garden. A five-pointed star will be visible on the performance stage and five chairs will be placed in front of five flowering trees. According to Miller, the Legacy Garden hopes to be able to place plaques on each of the chairs — one for each of the five students who were lost.

The project is accepting donations with a goal of raising $750,000 towards further development of the park. At press time, the project had raised over $127,500.