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Candlelight vigil held in honor of Arlington parents killed by suspected DUI driver

ARLINGTON, Wash. — Community members gathered together to remember the lives of Tausha Schmidt and Justin Wilkerson, two 39-year-old parents who were killed by a suspected DUI driver on Jan. 20.

Schmidt and Wilkerson were raising three kids together, including a 8-year-old boy, 15-year-old boy, and 17-year-old girl named Karen Schmidt. Schmidt said she is currently staying with her grandparents and is “pretty much in charge” of looking after her younger brothers.

“We’re not entirely sure who set up the vigil,” Karen Schmidt said on Saturday before the vigil. “We were pretty sure it was more of like a neighborhood thing … I think it’s really wonderful they set this up. We didn’t even think about something like that. The community has been so wonderful.”

On Saturday, about 50 people gathered at the Timbers Apartments, where family and friends said the couple called home. Several firefighters with the Arlington Fire Department also stopped by to pay their respects.

Schmidt expressed empathy for Elliot Bagley, a 28-year-old Stanwood man accused of killing her parents on Jan. 20. Bagley is currently behind bars in Snohomish County after a judge set his bail at $500,000 on January 21.

“For a while I had a lot of anger for the person who had hit him,” Karen said. “But I think in the end, I forgave him because he’s going through his own pain as well.”

Gerette Frodsham, Karen Schmidt’s grandmother and the mother of Tausha Schmidt, traveled from Billings, Montana, for the vigil. She expressed the same sentiment toward Bagley.

“He has to live with this the rest of his life and I have forgiven him, too,” Frodsham said on Saturday. “It’s just what you have to do. You have to go on.”

“I want (Bagley) to understand that he did do something bad. He is going to have a consequence for it,” Karen said. “But the people that it’s affected — they have forgiven him.”

A GoFundMe page set up by the Arlington Police Officer Association is ongoing to help Karen and her two younger brothers. As of Jan. 29, the fund had raised $43,070 toward its $50,000 goal.