The audacity of this scenario is symbolic of the escalating gun violence in organized crime on the streets of Calgary this year. From January to June, Calgary saw 63 shots – double the five-year average over the same period, according to statistics provided by the Calgary Police Department (CPS). The CPS says it has added staff and reorganized units to prioritize “reckless” gun violence.
“They double”
So far in 2022, CPS officials say five people have been killed in connection with organized crime. And while police use terms such as “organized crime”, “groups”, “networks” and “obligation”, they hate to use the term “gang war”. This is partly because “gang” is not the term used in the Penal Code and partly because this time around, when airtight commitments are much more fluid, says Insp. Jodi Gach with the CPS Organized Crime Division. “It’s not the same as before; before you saw a clash between two teams, so you were on either side A or side B. It’s not like that now,” says Gache. “Historically, beliefs have not changed as much as what we see today.” Insp. Jodi Gach with the Calgary Police Department says that historically, organized crime commitments have not changed as much as what police are seeing right now. (CBC) A police officer who took part in the investigation said that the members of the group are known to “change sides within a week”. “They make a double cross and flip flops,” said the officer, who is not authorized to speak on behalf of the CPS. “It’s hard to stay in front of these kids.”
The role of price
The liquidity of the teams adds an “extraordinary complexity” to the research, Gach says. The collisions are triggered for various reasons, the inspector explains. There are traditional battles involving drug distribution networks and greed. And then, says Gach, there are personal conflicts. “When people are not honest in a group, then there is a conflict that we see being played … with guns and reckless violence,” says Gach. Police responded to a deadly shooting at 16th Avenue NW and Fourth Street NW earlier this year. (Colleen Underwood / CBC)
A police station was hit by a bullet
On May 23, two daytime shootings took place on Monday, Victoria Day. One in the southeastern neighborhood of Acadia, the other on 17th Avenue SW, one of the busiest pedestrian streets in the city. Two young men, both in their teens, were taken to hospital with gunshot wounds. The teens are familiar with each other, according to sources familiar with the surveys but not authorized to speak on behalf of the CPS. But Gach says at this point in the research, it would be misleading to say that the shootings are linked. “There are many ways in which people can connect … I would not be sure if I said that they are connected offenses based on some initial thought.”
A passer-by was killed
During the Acadia shooting, 60 rounds of ammunition were fired at the neighborhood around 11:30 a.m., according to Supt. Cliff O’Brien. In addition to the teen victim and a parked car, the nearby District 6 police station was also hit by a bullet, according to police who received an information note about the situation the next day. It seems to have been the luck or fortune that kept the other 57 bullets from hitting a passerby. Angela Mckenzie was not that lucky. On May 10, the driver of a stolen Chevy Silverado shot a man who escaped fire in a Volkswagen Jetta. The chase ended with two vehicles not involved in an intersection in the Forest Lawn southeast neighborhood.
A well-known gangster is wanted
Mackenzie was killed in that accident. Her death left five children orphaned. Talal Amer, 29, a gangster previously convicted of organized crime in the last Calgary Street War, is wanted across Canada on homicide, attempted murder and gun crimes. Talal Amer, 29, is wanted on warrants across Canada. He is accused of killing an innocent passer-by in a car accident after he chased and shot at another car. (Calgary Police Department) Amer is well known to the Calgary Police and played a role, along with his brother and two cousins, in the Calgary Gang War in 2015/2016 which was marked by family ties and armed violence. In 2016, Calgary police arrested eight men in connection with at least 10 assassination attempts, including Amer, two of his brothers and two cousins, Badar and Abdul Amer. Amer eventually pleaded guilty to minor offenses and was sentenced to three years in prison, which expired five days before he was charged with Mckenzie’s murder.
5 homicides of organized crime
Mckenzie’s homicide is considered by police to be one of five so far in 2022 related to organized crime. The others are:
Eric Riendeau, 36, was shot dead in an alley in the southwestern community of Sunalta on January 6. He had a long history with the courts. Ali Al-Aqal, 21, stopped at a red light at the intersection of 16th Avenue in Fourth Street NW on March 21 when a man got out of another vehicle, approached the victim’s Chevy Avalanche and shot the driver. On April 1, Majed Ahmed Zulfiqar and a friend bought food in Shawarma, Jerusalem, and then got into their car parked in the alley behind the restaurant. The vehicle approached a man who fired several shots at Zulfiqar, killing him. Police were called to the northeastern Saddle Ridge community on April 20 after neighbors reported hearing gunshots. Hisham Ahmed was found dead in a vehicle.
People “know who the shooters are”
Mackenzie’s is the only one of the five homicides where charges have been filed. Part of what the police are dealing with is the struggle to get information from members of the shooting communities. There are people who know who the offenders are, but they do not speak. “I honestly can’t say enough that we know there are people out there who know who the shooters are,” Gach said. “We know the community can help us right now. To do our job, we need the help of the community.” Gach says people do not work together for a variety of reasons – a mixture of fear, faith and trust in the protection offered by some of these team members. To deal with the growing number of shootings, the CPS says it has added staff to its operations, response and intelligence units in the organized crime unit. It has also launched a formal response to the shootings, and the service has stepped up surveillance of those under warrant.
