Gangs blamed for surge in shootings
‘Extremely dangerous’ young men pose risk to innocent bystanders, police say
Calgary police say gang violence is to blame for at least 55 shootings dating back to 2012, a number of homicides over the last five years and at least 17 reported violent home invasions within the last year.
The CPS specialized offender unit with service-wide support currently has 50 ongoing investigations involving about 40 people believed to be involved in these incidents. More than 20 people within the group have been charged with more than 100 drug and breach of conditions related offences since September of last year.
“These are predominantly young men who have zero regard for the safety of others, but even more alarming, have zero regard for their own lives. This makes them extremely dangerous, violent and unpredictable,” said Staff Sgt. Rob Davidson, adding the risk posed to bystanders and innocent members of the community is of deep concern.
There were 45 shootings — where property damage or more than one injury occurred — in the first half of 2017, compared to 37 in the same time period in 2016. Of the 45 incidents this year, 32 are believed to be targeted.
To give more context, Davidson said between mid-April and the end of June this year, there were eight shootings police believe are loosely connected that resulted in injuries to unintended victims.
“That resulted in 11 individual victims, unintended victims, being shot, many of whom have significant, life-altering injuries. This is a major significant public safety issue and it’s being driven by a very small core group of individuals,” said Davidson.
However, police say the violence is typically targeted to individuals within the group as allegiances fluctuate among members. Despite significant efforts and resources to curtail this, police have seen an increase in violent behaviour.
Investigators say the group is very disorganized, fluid and lacking the hierarchy and structure of traditional gangs. They do not self-identify under a specific name or names, and do not belong to any one community or ethnicity.
“We’re seeing a wide mix,” said Davidson.
While he did not provide a specific age-range of the offending individuals, Davidson did say they are all young adults.
Investigators believe the current violence is tied to perceived personal slights within the group and the desire to live a criminal lifestyle, while drug involvement remains a common factor.
The range of violence includes shootings, kidnappings, assaults, extortions and home invasions.
With recent reports of budget and staffing level cuts, Calgary Police Chief Roger Chaffin said the amount of work to investigate and curtail the violence is having an effect on officers.
“The men and women who work here are being incredibly drained right now by what they’re trying to accomplish, so yes, we are concerned,” said Chaffin.
Investigators believe a significant number of incidents are not being reported to the police and are therefore asking the public to provide them with any information they may have as it could be critical to furthering ongoing investigations.
Davidson said: “They may have something as basic as reports of hearing gunshots or video from personal security cameras that may have captured an incident (and) would be extremely beneficial in assisting us. We know people might be scared, but there are ways to provide anonymous information.”