Airdrie family hopes to raise awareness about youth violence – Calgary

Thirteen-year-old Molly Wells has been exploring her independence and finding herself in music.

The Airdrie, Alta., teen makes the trip into Calgary for local concerts on Thursday nights with friends. Last Thursday was no different, with the exception that her mom let her take an Uber home, rather than getting picked up.

“Letting her go downtown from Airdrie was really hard for me this year,” said Molly’s mom, Dominika Tworek. “She’s normally driven and picked up, this was the one time I said, ‘You want to take an Uber home, you’re with your friends, it’s OK.’”

Everything was OK during the concert. Molly had fun with her friends, made memories and checked in with her mom. But it was the phone call afterwards that was like a gut punch to Tworek.

“When my phone rang and my daughter’s screaming for help, it’s something I would not wish upon anyone,” said Tworek fighting back tears. “She was like, ‘Mom, I need help, I’m getting jumped, I’m trying to run away.’”

Tworek says she was able to check Molly’s location and immediately started driving downtown, calling 911 on the way, trying not to fear the worst.

“You head about these horrific stories where kids don’t survive these kinds of beatings.”

Molly says she had been walking through Prince’s Island Park after the concert with two friends ready to grab an Uber home. They saw a group of teenagers sitting nearby and asked if they could join.

Molly said she and her friends didn’t think anything of it when the group said no, and the trio kept walking. Molly says she still doesn’t know what led to what happened next.

“One moment I’m walking with a group of friends, the next I’m getting attacked by a group of people,” said Molly.

Molly says a few girls from the group of teens approached her and started attacking her, allegedly kicking and beating her. She says she was able to get away and that’s when she called her mom, before the girls caught up with her for a second time.

Molly was covered in bruises, had head trauma and had a number of her piercings ripped out by the time her mom picked her up.

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“It wasn’t even a fight,” said Molly. “They just attacked me from behind as I was facing the opposite direction from them.”

Calgary police are investigating and are still trying to determine how many people, believed to be youths, were involved in the attack. Officers are still going through evidence and are asking anyone with information to come forward.

Meanwhile, Molly and her mom say they’ve found a number of videos posted by the alleged attackers on social media, as Molly continues to heal from her injuries. For the first few days, Molly didn’t want to be alone and says the trauma from the attack can creep up at any time, while Tworek says she’s trying to figure out how to let Molly out of her sight again.

“I have so much guilt for not picking her up that night,” said Tworek. “But I also want to give her freedom and flexibility to grow and be an adult. I don’t know what that’s going to look like going forward; mom’s probably going to be sitting the parking lot for the next few shows.”

The family is sharing their story in hopes it might prevent similar attacks in the future.

“We live in a world where bullying is so normalized,” said Tworek. “I know police and the school systems are trying to make an impact, but until we start talking about this, it’s not going to change and nobody deserves to go through what my baby went through.”

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