Two men shot near Whyte Avenue
Police believe victims were targeted
Six bullet casings in a back alley just south of Whyte Avenue marked the spot where two men in their 20s were shot early Sunday.
One man has since been released from hospital and has spoken with police, Staff Sgt. Steven Chwok said Sunday.
The second victim remains hospitalized in serious but stable condition, Chwok said.
The shooting happened about 1:45 a.m. in an alley just south of Whyte Avenue, between 104th Street and 103rd Street.
Several people called police to report the gunshots and many businesses in the area have security video for police to review, Chwok said.
“We’ve actually had multiple witnesses that have now come forward,” he said.
Scarlett Giesbrecht and a friend were driving in Giesbrecht’s camper van in the alley when the shooting started right behind them.
“I heard shots all around the RV. I thought, ‘Oh my God, I’d better duck,’ ” Giesbrecht said hours later, standing in the sunshine as police investigators marked bullet casings and blood splatter.
Giesbrecht and her friend had just picked up food from McDonald’s. Her friend was driving, and they didn’t notice anything strange when they turned into the alley, Giesbrecht said.
When they were halfway down, the shooting started and about five men raced passed the camper. One jumped into the passenger side of a small white car parked beside her vehicle. He had two blood spots on his clothes, one on his butt and one around the kidney, Giesbrecht said.
The car’s driver waved to the RV driver so he could get out of the parking stall, then it took off before police arrived.
The rest of the men fled on foot, Giesbrecht said.
She and her friend backed up, then her older camper lost its transmission fluid and got stuck in the alley.
It was still parked there Sunday morning while Giesbrecht waited for a friend to come and fix it.
“At least I had a safe sleep,” she said, looking around at the police tape and cruisers on patrol. “It happened just then. Who knows, maybe a shell went through my hose,” she said.
Investigators marked a series of bullet casings at the west end of the alley, along with a Tim Hortons coffee cup and a package of cigarettes sitting on top of a Dumpster.
Officers marked a spot of blood near the east end, close to where Giesbrecht’s camper was parked.
Will Weatherbie slept in his truck at the east end of the alley Saturday night but didn’t hear a thing, he said. He was a bit bewildered to find himself beside a crime scene when he woke up hours later.
The painter just moved to Edmonton for work and is sleeping in his truck until his apartment is available.
Staff from the Pita Pit, just metres from where the casings were found, were stuck when their shop closed at 4 a.m. because their vehicles were parked behind the yellow police tape.
They told Weatherbie they heard five or six shots.
Giesbrecht said she heard about eight. “It was definitely a semi-automatic or something,” she said. “It was just pop, pop, pop.”
Chwok said it doesn’t appear as if the victims were randomly targeted.
“Whyte Avenue is still a safe place to go,” he said. “I don’t believe this is a random act.”