RCMP appeal to public for information on shooting

RCMP continue to investigate a shooting earlier this month that left a German tourist with “serious and life-altering injuries” that is believed to have been intentional.

The 60-year-old man was shot in the head while driving with his wife, his son and his son’s girlfriend on Highway 1A on Aug. 2 near Morley. He had been in Alberta visiting relatives, his cousin previously told Postmedia.

“Without a doubt, the shot was intentionally fired. Whether or not the victim was the intended person, we don’t know at this point,” Cpl. Curtis Peters said Thursday in an update to media on the investigation. “We believe that there was an intent to cause death or serious injury to the driver of the vehicle. In that sense, we don’t believe it was random.”

RCMP are asking for the public’s help to identify potential suspects. On Thursday, RCMP released photos of the black Dodge Durango the tourist was driving at the time of the shooting, as well as a map of the area. Peters said the shooting happened shortly after 11:40 a.m., when the victim was travelling eastbound toward Calgary from Banff.

While driving on Highway 1A, the man and his family detoured briefly into the Nakoda Lodge area on the Stoney Nakoda First Nation and continued east, before travelling off the highway onto Branch Road.

He then drove a short distance before returning to Highway 1A, where his Dodge Durango was passed by the suspect vehicle about a kilometre west of the Goodstoney Rodeo Centre.

A gunshot was fired from the passenger’s side of the vehicle into the driver’s window of the Dodge, striking the tourist in the head. The suspect vehicle continued eastbound and has not yet been located. Peters said it’s believed to be a dark-coloured, older-model sedan. The Dodge continued several hundred metres before crashing into trees on the north side of the road.

Anyone who was driving in those areas between 11 a.m. and noon and recognizes the vehicle driven by the tourist is asked to contact RCMP or Crime Stoppers. Mounties are also asking anyone with dash camera footage recorded in that vicinity around that time to contact them.

A spokesperson for the victim’s family said in an update Monday that the man is “not able to talk or move his right side.”

Peters said all avenues of the investigation remain open.

“We haven’t unearthed anything in the investigation that suggests there was a conflict that took place leading up to the shooting,” he said.

RCMP previously took a man into custody and seized a Chrysler Sebring, however both have since been cleared of any involvement.

Peters said RCMP continue to be in contact with the victim and his family, who have since returned to Germany.

“Anybody who’s a victim of a crime like this deserves to have a full investigation, deserves to have justice served. That’s what we’re here for,” he said.