Family identifies university volleyball player killed in Kamloops, B.C., crash

The Thompson Rivers University volleyball player killed in a multi-vehicle crash in Kamloops, B.C., Wednesday has been identified by his mother as Owyn McInnis.

McInnis was a fourth-year outside hitter for the TRU WolfPack originally from Guelph, Ont., according to a Friday Instagram post from his mother, Erin Walter.

Walter said her son's death is her worst nightmare come true.

"Our son had no chance to survive," Walter wrote. "Medical professionals worked so hard to save Owyn [but] you can't unring those words from the coach and ER doctor."

McInnis, whom RCMP say was in his 20s, was pursuing a bachelor of science at TRU and had hoped to help bring a men's national volleyball title to the university, he said in 2021.

Walter said she and her family are in Kamloops "putting the pieces together" after the crash, which also sent two of McInnis' teammates to hospital with serious "life-altering" injuries, according to RCMP.

"As we navigate these unbearable waters, please send love and energy to the two other boys. We don't want another set of parents to experience what we are right now," Walter wrote.

The young player was also engaged to be married, according to a Saturday statement from the TRU WolfPack.

A funeral will be arranged in Guelph, Walter said, and the family will "keep his legacy alive."

Before he died on Wednesday, McInnis posted pictures of his mother's recent visit to Kamloops with another family member.

"Always nice when the Ontarian's come to visit," he wrote on Nov. 29.

After CBC News reached out to both Walter and McInnis' fianceé, a TRU spokesperson declined the requests on their behalf and said in an email the family was asking for privacy.

RCMP said on Wednesday McInnis was killed and his two teammates