A London, Ont., woman who lived in Mexico for close to a decade was shot and killed during a roadside robbery while driving home to Canada, according to friends and local news reports.
Canadian officials have not yet confirmed the death of Gabriele Schart, but her family and friends have spoken to CBC News.
Schart owned the Firefly Cinema and karaoke bar in Zipolite, a town in southern Mexico. The business, founded by Schart about eight years ago, was a popular gathering spot for expatriates and locals, friends say.
Family members say they’ve been told Schart was shot in Queretaro, just north of Mexico City, on Saturday — about a day into her journey home with her four dogs and cat. Mexican media say Schart was 50 but a friend said she was 57.
“She absolutely loved animals and she would not leave without them, so she decided to buy a vehicle there and drive home with them,” said longtime friend Raquel Shulman, adding Schart was going home to look after her ailing mother.
Canada warns Mexico visitors to be cautious
A spokesperson from Global Affairs Canada said it’s “aware of the death of a Canadian in Mexico.”
“Consular officials are providing consular assistance and support to the family and are in contact with local authorities to obtain additional information,” said the statement emailed to CBC News on Wednesday. “Due to privacy considerations, no further information can be disclosed.”
The Canadian government also advises visitors to Mexico to “exercise a high degree of caution” because of high levels of criminal activity and kidnapping.
CBC News also reached out to authorities and others in Mexico about the Schart case.
Ramon Rodriguez is a reporter who specializes in security issues and wrote about Schart’s killing for regional Mexican media outlet Iqro, based in Queretaro.
Rodriguez told CBC News the road on which the robbery happened has been a hot spot for robberies because of the access criminals have to vehicles that slow down as they approach a toll booth.
Shulman said Schart was driving with a male friend who was supposed to help her on the sometimes dangerous Mexican highways, where drivers are sometimes stopped by men who demand money.
“He was supposed to be a safety net for her, so she would be safe getting to the border.”
Family working on funeral plans
The friend was also shot and sent to hospital for treatment, Rodriguez said. Authorities told him Schart got out of the car when a group approached and she was shot and died instantly.
“Mexico right now is living one of its most violent times of recent years,” Rodriguez told CBC News in Spanish.
“It’s a situation that you, as foreigners, should be aware of becoming to Mexico,” he said, adding the country is also dangerous for locals.
Schart has two sons — Corin, who lives in Mexico, and Michael, who resides in London with his grandmother. The siblings are working to get answers from authorities in Mexico.
“Gabriele was a very bright person. Strong-willed. Loving. No matter how hard things got, she found the strength to keep on trying,” eldest son Michael wrote on a GoFundMe page to raise money for travel costs to claim his mother’s remains and for funeral costs.
A funeral will be held in Mexico, Shulman said.
She said Schart moved to Mexico in 2015 to escape the hustle and bustle of life in Canada.
“She applied to lots of different places that offered room and board and Mexico was the first place to get back to her, offered her a job at a hotel doing data entry, and she took it. She fell in love with Zipolite.”
2 of woman’s pets found, search on for 3
One of the dogs she was taking home, a boxer named Ruby, as well as a cat were picked up by Mexican animal protection officials after the killing.
Schart was driving home to Canada from Mexico with her four dogs. After she was killed, the animals scattered. Only the boxer, Ruby, has been found. (Supplied by Claudia Memet)
The three other dogs have not been found but people in Mexico are trying to locate them, said another friend, Claudia Memet.
“Gabby and I met years ago when she offered to foster two dogs. She already had two of her own,” said Memet, owner of the Dogs of Puerto Angel rescue organization, which operates in Mexico. “She’s well known in the community of expats because she ran the only cinema in the area, which was very popular.”
Recently, the health of Schart’s mother deteriorated, so she decided to move back home to help her son look after her, Memet said.
“She could have taken a flight back to Canada and it would have been a lot less expensive and easier,” she said. “But there was no way she was going to rehome these animals and leave them behind.”
WINNIPEG – Police in Winnipeg say one person has died and three more were injured after a pickup truck smashed into a bus shelter on Portage Avenue during the morning commute.
Police say those injured are in stable condition in hospital.
It began after a Ford F150 truck hit a pedestrian and bus shelter on Portage Avenue near Bedson Street before 8 a.m.
Another vehicle, a power pole and a gas station were also damaged before the truck came to a stop.
The crash forced commuters to be rerouted and knocked out power in the area for more than a thousand Manitoba Hydro customers.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
KAMLOOPS, B.C. – A 35-year-old man has been charged with second-degree murder after his mother’s body was found near her Kamloops, B.C., home a year ago.
Mounties say 57-year-old Jo-Anne Donovan was found dead about a week after she had been reported missing.
RCMP says its serious crime unit launched an investigation after the body was found.
Police say they arrested Brandon Donovan on Friday after the BC Prosecution Service approved the charge.
TORONTO – Strength in the base metal and technology sectors helped Canada’s main stock index gain almost 100 points on Friday, while U.S. stock markets climbed to their best week of the year.
“It’s been almost a complete opposite or retracement of what we saw last week,” said Philip Petursson, chief investment strategist at IG Wealth Management.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 297.01 points at 41,393.78. The S&P 500 index was up 30.26 points at 5,626.02, while the Nasdaq composite was up 114.30 points at 17,683.98.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 93.51 points at 23,568.65.
While last week saw a “healthy” pullback on weaker economic data, this week investors appeared to be buying the dip and hoping the central bank “comes to the rescue,” said Petursson.
Next week, the U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut its key interest rate for the first time in several years after it significantly hiked it to fight inflation.
But the magnitude of that first cut has been the subject of debate, and the market appears split on whether the cut will be a quarter of a percentage point or a larger half-point reduction.
Petursson thinks it’s clear the smaller cut is coming. Economic data recently hasn’t been great, but it hasn’t been that bad either, he said — and inflation may have come down significantly, but it’s not defeated just yet.
“I think they’re going to be very steady,” he said, with one small cut at each of their three decisions scheduled for the rest of 2024, and more into 2025.
“I don’t think there’s a sense of urgency on the part of the Fed that they have to do something immediately.
A larger cut could also send the wrong message to the markets, added Petursson: that the Fed made a mistake in waiting this long to cut, or that it’s seeing concerning signs in the economy.
It would also be “counter to what they’ve signaled,” he said.
More important than the cut — other than the new tone it sets — will be what Fed chair Jerome Powell has to say, according to Petursson.
“That’s going to be more important than the size of the cut itself,” he said.
In Canada, where the central bank has already cut three times, Petursson expects two more before the year is through.
“Here, the labour situation is worse than what we see in the United States,” he said.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.61 cents US compared with 73.58 cents US on Thursday.
The October crude oil contract was down 32 cents at US$68.65 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was down five cents at US$2.31 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$30.10 at US$2,610.70 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents US$4.24 a pound.
— With files from The Associated Press
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
