![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1753494014_122_video.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPeople gathered to remember Vanessa Whyte (45) and her children, James (14) and Sara (13) who were killed in a suspected triple murder and attempted suicide in Maguiresbridge. A fourth person remains in hospital.<\/p>\n
First Minister Michelle O\u2019Neill and local MP Pat Cullen were among those at the vigil at the local primary school. <\/p>\n
Fermanagh priest Fr Brian D\u2019Arcy was one of a series of church figures also present.<\/p>\n
A minute\u2019s silence was observed in memory of the three victims.<\/p>\n
Earlier, people paid tribute as a book of condolence was opened to commemorate the three victims.<\/p>\n
Streams of people journeyed to the school, which both children had previously attended.<\/p>\n
Police have since launched a murder investigation and are pursuing a murder-attempted suicide bid as a line of enquiry.<\/p>\n
The tribute, organised by the Maguiresbridge Rural Development Association, saw a photo of the three victims surrounded by lit candles.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Watch: Rev Lindsey Farrell speaks about the tragic shooting in County Fermanagh<\/p>\n
The school\u2019s principal, Honor Irvine, said she knew both Sara and James \u201creally well\u201d having taught them for two years each.<\/p>\n
Ms Irvine said the pair were well-loved and \u201cthey just wanted to achieve\u201d with Vanessa \u201csupporting them with everything that they did\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cJames loved sport. He loved to be outdoors \u2014 he loved farming,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSara was the same, she built up and had great friendships in the school, loved the outdoors, full of life. But they were very good at their studies as well, academically, very good and had both transferred on to Enniskillen Grammar School, where again, they were achieving and doing really well.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust two lovely all-around pupils, lots of friends, very popular in the school and a lot of friends they maintained into post-primary school.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/791c64a6-94f1-4f69-b9ec-a04c3d57e0cd.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
A book of condolence was set up in Maguiresbridge,Primary School.
\nPicture by Jonathan Porter\/PressEye<\/p>\n
A trophy earned by James for his efforts with the school\u2019s initiatives was also on display in the school.<\/p>\n
Both teenagers were active members of the GAA community and played for Lisbellaw Hurling Club and St Mary\u2019s GFC.<\/p>\n
Vanessa was a veterinarian and worked with the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA).<\/p>\n
Several of her colleagues have signed the book.<\/p>\n
Ms Irvine added: \u201cWe all felt that there was a need for somewhere for the community to come together to share stories and we’ve had a group of vets just in from DAERA talking about Vanessa.\u201d<\/p>\n
DUP leader Gavin Robinson signed the book alongside the party\u2019s MLA for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Deborah Erskine.<\/p>\n
Mr Robinson told the media how it was vital a space was created so that those grieving can \u201cpay their respects and indicate the personal sorrow that they feel\u201d.<\/p>\n
The east Belfast MP said: \u201cInside we could hear very clearly the deep affection that they have for James and Sara and their mother Vanessa.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe stories that they shared with us about the experience in this primary school, within the classroom, the joy that was brought to the classroom just brings home how shocking, how tragic and how sorrowful this is an experience for the local Maguiresbridge family and community.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo for us today, it’s an opportunity to give respectful remembrance to three lost lives that should not have been lost and to give support to a wider community that will gather this evening for a vigil [and] will come together and I know will support one another in what is a most difficult, difficult time and so we were pleased to be here to offer our sincere condolences and support to the families and to this community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Erskine added that the community will \u201cwrap their arms around\u201d the family whose lives \u201chave been turned completely upside-down\u201d.<\/p>\n
She continued: \u201cWe\u2019ve seen how churches have cancelled their events, we\u2019ve seen a band has cancelled their parade, and we\u2019ve seen how the GAA have opened up their facilities for people.\u201d<\/p>\n
A fourth person, a man who was a member of the same household, remains in a serious condition in hospital in Belfast following the incident on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
![\"Flowers](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/e75048c7-946d-4343-8579-783427bf38c8.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Flowers left near the scene in Maguiresbridge<\/p>\n
Picture by Jonathan Porter\/PressEye<\/p>\n
Superintendent Robert McGowan told reporters earlier in the week that the individual has \u201ca limited footprint\u201d with the PSNI as well as a \u201climited domestic history\u201d.<\/p>\n
While Mr Robinson acknowledged the necessity of the Stormont strategy end violence against women and girls, he said that sometimes \u201cno matter what the government does, you will still see tragedy\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the Executive is collective in its desire to do what it can to stamp out the scourge of violence we see in our society, particularly towards women and girls and that we recognise, in this case, the victims do not solely confine themselves to women and girls, because there’s a young boy, that has been killed as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maguiresbridge Christ Church Reverend, Reverend Lindsey Farrell, told the Belfast Telegraph of the devastation the local community has suffered.<\/p>\n
Rev Farrell had known of both Sara and James and offered her prayers to all those afflicted by the tragedy.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cWe are a strong community here at Maguiresbridge and the vigil that is planned for this evening is hoped to provide a mechanism of support for the community. And it is hoped that it will be a show of love and support for the family members who have been affected by this terrible tragedy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"People gathered to remember Vanessa Whyte (45) and her children, James (14) and Sara (13) who were killed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[1248,1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-292061","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-fermanagh-news","9":"tag-northern-ireland","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114916991102144693","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}