Canada reels at ‘deliberate’ killing of boy, 11, in gangland hit targeting father

An 11-year-old boy has been deliberately shot and killed alongside his father in what police have called a “sick and twisted” escalation of gang violence in the Canadian city of Edmonton.

The boy, who has not been named, was sitting next to his 41-year-old father, Harpreet Uppal, in their vehicle outside an Edmonton gas station on Thursday when they were attacked, police said on Friday. Another child, a friend of the boy, was also present but physically unharmed.

“Mr Uppal was followed with the intention of finding him and ending his life. And it happened,” Edmonton police Acting Supt Colin Derksen told reporters. “The young boy, his son … we don’t know if he was targeted in that sense. What we do know is that once the shooter or shooters learned the son was there, they intentionally killed him … He wasn’t caught in the crossfire or killed by mistake. That is sick and twisted.”

Police said it was “just too early” to publicly identify the younger victim. A burned-out vehicle found nearby is believed to be tied to the shooting. Officers confirmed Uppal was known to police and had previously been shot and wounded in an attack at a pizza restaurant in 2021. On that occasion he was also with his family, when a man walked up to a window directly in front of them and fired multiple shots through the glass. Only Uppal was injured in that attack.

Autopsies on Uppal and his son have been scheduled for early next week.

“With a heavy heart, I contemplate how it’s conceivable for a child to be killed in such a tragic manner like this,” Alberta’s premier, Danielle Smith, said in a statement. “Like many of you, I am concerned with the rise in gun violence in our neighbourhoods.”

Edmonton, like other metropolitan areas across the country, is grappling with an increase in shootings and gangrelated crimes. But the death of a child has intensified police efforts to solve Thursday’s daylight shooting.

“We’re going to give it everything we got,” said Derksen. “We’re pulling out all the stops. We lost a child here.”

Photograph: Canadian Press/Shutterstock Flowers and a teddy bear lie at the scene of the shooting deaths of a father and his 11-year-old son, in Edmonton, Canada, on Friday.