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Vigil Held for Teen Walmart Employee Found Dead in Store Oven as Mom Seeks ‘Answers’ to What Happened
Gursimran Kaur, 19, was found dead inside the store’s walk-in bakery oven on Oct. 19
A candlelight vigil was held outside a Walmart in Canada to honor the 19-year-old employee who was found dead last month inside the store’s walk-in bakery oven.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the Halifax store to remember Gursimran Kaur on Sunday, Nov. 3, according to CTV News and CBC News.
“We are just paying tribute to her,” Rajan Sood said, according to CBC News.
Astik Singh Chouhan, a family friend, told CTV News that Kaur was “always excited” and had “a lot of ideas of what she wanted to do once she graduated from school.”
Kaur’s mother, who found her daughter in the oven, was not at the vigil, according to CBC News.
“She is in a bad situation,” said Rimple Dhunna. “She wants answers. She is the one who has the right to know right away what happened to her daughter.”
Police previously said Kaur was found dead on Saturday, Oct. 19, “in a large walk-in oven belonging to the store’s bakery department.”
In an email to PEOPLE on Friday, Oct. 25, Halifax Regional Police Constable Martin Cromwell said that the investigation is “complex” and that police “do not have any updates to provide at this time.” The cause and manner of death are not yet known at this time.
Related: Teenage Walmart Employee Was ‘Locked in’ Store Oven Before Being Found Dead, Emergency Audio Shows
In a statement to CTV News and CBC News, Walmart said that store associates attended the vigil “to grieve together and show their support” following Kaur’s death.
“We are working towards understanding how this tragic event occurred,” the spokesperson added. “We continue to support our associates during this difficult time.”
Walmart did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
In a statement previously obtained by PEOPLE, a member of the Maritime Sikh Society said Kaur was an immigrant from India.
“We are a Sikh Gurdwara, the biggest in Atlantic provinces in Canada,” Balbir Singh, a secretary with the Maritime Sikh Society, told PEOPLE. “This fundraising started with permission from the immediate family, and all the proceedings will go to [Gursimran’s] mother.”
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Nearly $195,000 was raised through a GoFundMe campaign started for Kaur’s family following her tragic death.