A crowd of people attended one of several gatherings Thursday evening for Parker, the 11-year-old Calgary boy who went missing earlier this month and was confirmed dead earlier that day.

Steven Cortez, who visited the gathering at Laycock Park in the city’s northeast, said he helped search for the boy and wanted to pay his respects.

“As a parent, I feel the pain of losing a child,” he said. 

He said seeing so many people come together to honour Parker gave him goosebumps.

“From a world full of news about war and politics and conflicts around the world, it’s actually heartwarming to see an entire city come together as one and unite trying to find this kid,” Cortez said.

For nearly two weeks, hundreds of police officers, along with hundreds of trained searchers and volunteers looked for Parker, who had autism, following his disappearance from his specialized day facility on July 16.

Calgary police announced Wednesday they had found remains in a culvert near Deerfoot Trail, which Alberta’s chief medical officer confirmed Thursday belonged to Parker.

Deborah Poitras, who also helped in the search, said many people developed a connection to the boy, despite never meeting him.

During the search, she helped put up posters in the area and said returning to the spot alongside other volunteers “feels like some type of closure.”

“It’s so important and it’s so wonderful to see Calgarians and people that were all concerned about this to be together,” Poitras said.

The Calgary Tower was also lit up in blue Thursday evening in honour of Parker.

As people gathered to leave stuffed animals and sign a board with messages for Parker, Vicki Fraser said she wrote about how devastated she was about his death.

“It really hit me hard and he seemed like a nice sweet boy and when I found out last night on TV that they found him I just bawled,” she said.

Steven Phan said he has been feeling the same way.

“It’s pure sadness and grief,” he said. “This was definitely not the outcome that we were all hoping for.”

But, Phan said despite the tragedy, he hopes it will raise awareness about how those with neurodivergent conditions can be better supported. 

He’s part of a team which is petitioning to broaden the emergency alert system to better support missing vulnerable children.

“There’s definitely a lot of improvements I think we can make,” he said.