Pub patrons restrain man after rifle shot rings out

Despite how busy the karaoke night event was at Hudson’s pub Wednesday night, the first shot got Jesse Heit’s attention.

Heit and his friends were at the downtown Saskatoon bar for a stag party when a man entered with a rifle and fired a shot into the ceiling.

Heit looked over to see his friend Josh Neudorf attempting to pull the gun from the man’s hands, pinning him against the door of the women’s washroom as a second shot rang out.

The pair and their friend Joey Duong eventually retrieved the gun and restrained the shooter until police arrived.

A 25-year old man is in custody and faces weapons-related charges. He has yet to be formally charged.

Speaking to the media Wednesday afternoon, Saskatoon Police Service Insp. Cam Mcbride was unable to say how many officers arrived on scene or a time frame of when they did.

Mcbride commended “the quick and heroic action of patrons in the establishment,” but said police couldn’t recommend what the public should do when faced with such a situation.

“It’s never our expectation as a police service that a member of the public would place themselves in imminent harm where they could face serious injury or death,” he said. “...in a case like this, there are no best practices.”

Mcbride said the incident was under investigation and couldn’t provide many details about what the shooters movements before entering the bar, what transpired once he was inside or a potential motive.

He confirmed two shots were fired, but not the make and model of the rifle. He would not confirm the identity of the man or whether he was from Saskatoon.

When asked if he were known to police, Mcbride said it did not appear the man has an extensive history with police and he didn’t have any details regarding any past interactions with police.

A woman who identified herself as one of the restaurant’s managers, who was not present at the time of the incident, said “everything was over before you knew it. We’re assuming that there’s a possibility that he was just trying to

It’s never our expectation ... a member of the public would place themselves in imminent harm.

rob the place and scare everybody, so he wasn’t hurting anyone as far as we understand.”

She said customers, staff and police handled the situation “within seconds.”

Police continue to investigate.