Charges laid in stabbing death of 16-year-old Elijah Beauregard

Photo: Elijah Beauregard

RCMP have announced an arrest in the death of 16-year-old Elijah Beauregard.

The Kelowna RCMP says an 18-year-old female was taken into custody on Friday and charged with one count of manslaughter. 

The charged female was a youth at the time of the offence, Cpl. Jocelyn Noseworthy said, so her identity is protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. 

She will appear in Kelowna Youth Justice Court on Monday.

Beauregard succumbed to his injuries, passing away June 30, 2019 after being stabbed downtown Kelowna behind the BMO on June 27, 2019. 

At the time, RCMP said they arrested a female suspect, but she was later released without charge pending the results of the investigation.

"Police believe that the suspect and victim were known to each other and that the general public is not at any risk. As such, the incident is being considered an isolated event, not a random attack,” said Cpl. Jesse O'Donaghey on June 29, 2019.

A witness of the incident, Chris Cox, spoke to Castanet about the moments after the stabbing, indicating Beauregard was stabbed in the arm.

"I walked up, and I saw a bunch of blood and Eli holding his arm. That's when .... the person who did it came up to me and said: 'I just stabbed Eli.' She told me she stabbed Eli because he had never been stabbed before," Cox said.

The teen's father later told Castanet the hospital was initially going to have to amputate his son's arm as they fought to save Beauregard's life, but he eventually succumbed to his injuries.

“His heart stopped at the scene, and it stopped again at the hospital. They tried everything over the course of three days to make him comfortable and try and fix what was wrong, but there was just too much damage," Robyn Iain-Beauregard said.

Elijah Beauregard had been living on the streets at the time of his death.

As the matter is before the courts, RCMP say they will not be releasing any additional information.