RCMP Constable Tom Caverly walk behind police lines at a hobby farm where four family members were killed on Aug. 6, 1991. (QMI Agency file photo)

EDMONTON — Colette Mandin-Kossowan knew there was a chance her nephew Gavin Mandin, convicted of killing his parents and two sisters, could be granted day parole at his next hearing.

But when it finally happened last October it still came as a surprise, she said.

“I suspected that he would. He was going through all the steps that are normal for the release of somebody from prison,” said Mandin-Kossowan from her Edmonton-area home. “Given the crime that he’s committed and the fact that the conditions on his release are about relationships, and that there is a moderate risk of re-offending, that’s where the surprise comes in.”

News of Mandin’s release is very unsettling for his surviving family members who’ve suffered life-long effects due to Gavin’s violent actions on Aug. 6, 1991.

On that day, his family, who lived in St. Albert, just north of Edmonton, had just returned to their vacation property near Valleyview from a shopping trip. Mandin, 15 at the time, was perched at a window inside the home and shot his step-father Maurice in the head as he got out of the family car. He then fired shots at his mother Susan, who remained in the car with his two younger sisters, Islay and Janelle.