Police say only one of the shootings resulted in an injury and the victim is expected to recover. “I’m not here to scare Edmontonians, they shouldn’t be afraid to leave their homes and walk. What I really want to be is transparent,” said Staff Sgt. Eric Stewart with the Guns & Gangs section of the organized crime branch. “We have gun violence in this city. We have a high number of shootings that happen in the city, and these people who are involved in gun crime don’t think about what’s behind their target when they shoot those guns. They’re very careless, they’re very reckless , they don’t care about the audience.”
FIVE SUMMARY IN THREE DAYS
Around 11:55 pm on October 14th, officers responded to a report of a shooting in the area of 114th Street and 17th Avenue SW. Police were told that shots had been fired and a vehicle was leaving the area. Police found a bullet hole in the exterior of a home, but no injuries were reported. Around 12:37 am on Oct. 15, EPS received a report of shots fired at a home in the area of 127th Avenue and 119th Street. Investigators found a vehicle in a nearby alley with multiple bullet holes in its windows. No injuries were reported. Around 4 a.m., police were called to the hospital for a man who had arrived with a gunshot wound. Police say the victim reported being surrounded by a group of men who demanded his bike in the area of 104th Avenue and 119th Street. When he refused to hand over his bike, he was shot, EPS said. He was taken to hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries. Around 2:45 a.m. on Oct. 16, officers were called to a gun report at a park in the area of 102nd Avenue and 102nd Street. When police arrived, a 2021 Dodge Durango and the shooter’s vehicle had already left the scene, but multiple shell casings were found. Around 9:05 p.m., EPS was called to a weapons complaint at 137th Avenue and 66th Street. A man was driving eastbound on 137th Avenue when he heard a loud bang. He reportedly pulled over to check on his vehicle and found a bullet hole. He was not injured. “We have a person driving in his car who heard a loud bang and noticed there was a bullet hole in his car. We have no information to suggest that these people were targeted, we believe it was more of an accidental or accidental shooting,” Stewart said. He added that responding to these many firearms incidents in a short period of time requires a lot of resources. “Our frontline members are the first responders to these, our patrol members, and when they go it takes a lot of resources to respond to them,” he said. “A public safety event, victim, transporting the victims and securing them to the hospitals, dealing with suspects and trying to deal with witnesses and trying to secure evidence, so we have detectives coming in and dealing with those investigations.”
CONTINUATION OF VIOLENCE
According to Stewart, officers responded to 127 shootings this year through Oct. 16, 50 percent of which resulted in an injury. While the number is high, it is not significantly higher than what the police have dealt with in recent years. “In 2020, we had 112 shootings right now, and then last year we had 125, and then this year we’re at 127,” he said. “I wouldn’t say it’s an uptick, I’d say it’s a continuation of what we’ve had for the last three years.” Stewart says it’s important for the public to cooperate with police in these cases. “We want those people or people who witness these types of events to come forward to the police. We rely heavily on the cooperation of witnesses and even people who are victims in these investigations.” Anyone with information about either shooting is asked to call EPS at 780-423-4567 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
