For Barry, who has lived in Hong Kong for 13 years working for the Hong Kong Academy of Ice Hockey as its general manager and coach, the days have been long since he returned from Canada, and the brutal scene of his son’s murder remains etched in his memory.
Barry said his son was “filled with compassion”, a budding young man who was studying mental health and addiction at the University of Nova Scotia in the hope of helping those around him. He was home in Binbrook, where his mother lives, for less than a month when the crime took place. Brock previously lived in Hong Kong where he attended school in Kennedy Town.
“You feel like you are in hell, and there is no light,” said Barry about trying to come to terms with what happened. “And you feel like that every day.”
The latest update from homicide investigators with the Hamilton Police Service Major Crime Unit is that they believe some type of altercation may have occurred at an intersection where one car followed another, and then two men fled the scene.
Police have released a description of the suspects, the first is described as a male with darker skin, with a perm style haircut and possibly a muscular build. The second suspect is described as a white male with longer hair that has been pushed back.
A GoFundMe page has been set up by one of Barry’s friends, Marie Horn, who lives in New York. The name of the fundraiser is “Former New York Rangers’ Captain Needs Your Help”. Barry was captain of the New York Rangers for five years, and played seven seasons with the illustrious squad as a hard-nosed, take-no-prisoners defender.
Marie said this is what she enjoyed about Barry when she watched him play for the Rangers. Barry’s career spanned more than a decade, starting in 1977 and ending in 1990 with the Los Angeles Kings. He amassed more than 1,000 penalty minutes in his career and was born in Vancouver, playing his junior hockey in the Western Hockey League.
“During his playing days,” Horn said, “I always admired his strong presence on the ice, his never-wavering commitment to his team. He lead by example and he constantly protected his teammates and friends, no matter what.”
The fundraiser’s aim is to help raise money towards a reward for the capture of Brock’s murderer, with a goal of C$50,000 (HK$290,000). Horn, who has known Barry for 36 years, said both father and son are filled with compassion towards those around them and his killing is an unspeakable tragedy.
“We will not stop until there is an arrest,” Horn said. “In the meantime, we anxiously wait for news and continue Brock’s legacy of kindness and caring.”
Barry said there has not been an update in the case since July, but he has had conversations with police about the direction in which they are taking the case. He said, tragically, it may have simply been a case of “the wrong place at the wrong time” for his son.
“The first thing we need to do is find the murderers,” he said. “If they’ve done it once, they are going to do it again. I think they’re just hiding low right now because there is a lot of people looking for them. We have to trust the police. There are a lot of regulations out there so this can be a drawn-out affair. Some families wait 10 to 15 years, some families never find out, so it’s very difficult.”
His greatest hope, Barry said, is that another family does not have to go through what he is enduring. He noted that a week before there was another stabbing of a young man in the Hamilton area. The city has one of the highest violent crime rates in Canada.
“So many people have spoken about how much of a kind and caring human being my son was,” said Barry, adding that he is hoping to do something so his son’s name lives on.
“For him to be murdered in such a way, and for the assailants to still be at large is something I live with every day.”
Anyone with information they believe could assist police with the investigation contact detective David Brewster on 905-546-4067.
To provide information anonymously call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or submit an anonymous tip at www.crimestoppershamilton.com.
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