Stephanie Forster is being remembered as an empathetic, artistic and a hardworking woman.
Last Thursday, the 39-year-old’s life was tragically cut short when she was fatally shot while sitting in her vehicle in Coquitlam.
CTV News has learned her death is connected to a suicide that took place two days later during a traffic stop in Surrey.
Local Mounties say a man who’d been pulled over on Dec. 10 shot himself as officers approached him vehicle.
The Independent Investigations Office was deployed to the scene at 152 Street and 100th Avenue.
Now, investigators are looking into links between the closely timed shooting deaths.
“I wouldn't call the person who died in Surrey the alleged offender, he is someone that we have identified as being a potential suspect,” said Sgt. Timothy Pierotti, the media relations officer with IHIT.
Police have not confirmed if a man named Gianluigi Derossi, who sources tell CTV News was married to Forster, is the same person who died by suicide in Surrey.
“We did want to speak to him, unfortunately we are not going to have that opportunity,” Pierotti said.
Forster’s long time friend Bernard Ng says he was shocked when he learned of her death.
"I remember her telling me about meeting (Derossi) and that she had found somebody, and that it sounded like she was so happy," Ng said.
He says he met Forster more than 10 years ago when she co-founded Help Portrait Vancouver, an organization that takes annual photographs of people living in the Downtown Eastside.
Since then she's won awards for her work as a social and tech entrepreneur.
Ng hopes Forster is remembered for the inspiring woman she was, not by the devastating way she died.
"It's not somebody you'll soon ever come across again that will be able to match her charisma, her smile, her creativity, and just her caring nature," said Ng.
A life spent capturing images of those around her will now live on through her photographs and artwork.
