Police seek suspects after fatal New Year’s Eve shooting
Several victims are members of the city’s Somali community
CALGARY — One person was killed and six people were injured when multiple shots were fired at a crowded New Year’s Eve house party early Thursday morning.
Police were still looking for the shooter by evening and said it was unclear whether more than one offender was involved, and what the motive was.
Acting duty inspector Quinn Jacques said more than 50 people, many of whom identified themselves to police as members of local “African communities,” were at a house in the 1900 block of 36th Street S.W. when the shots rang out around 5 a.m.
One of the victims was on life support at Foothills Hospital on Thursday morning. His cousin identified him as Abdullahi Ahmed, in his mid20s, and said he was shot in the forehead.
Late Thursday afternoon, police said the victim had died in hospital, becoming the city’s first homicide of 2015.
The remaining six victims are in their 20s and 30s and had injuries ranging from minor to serious but stable.
Multiple sources have confirmed that several of the victims are members of the city’s Somali community, and investigators are asking for co-operation from members of Calgary’s African communities.
Jacques said some witnesses have been co-operative, but many have yet to come forward and investigators want to speak to more partygoers.
“We want members and leaders of African communities to know that our investigators are working hard to find the person or people responsible, but we can’t do it alone. We need your help,” he said.
Earlier Thursday, Det. Steve Adair said five victims were found inside and outside the residence, and two additional people showed up at hospital
on their own suffering from gunshot wounds.
Jacques said investigators don’t yet know if the incident is gang-related or if the shooting was targeted.
“This is a complex and fluid investigation, and at the moment we have more questions than answers,” he said at a news conference.
Police were asked if there could be any connection between those involved in the Calgary shooting and the Project Traveller investigation, an ongoing Toronto Police Service probe into members of the Dixon City Bloods.
Also known as the Dixon True Bloods, the notorious street gang is based in Toronto but has expanded to Alberta in recent years, according to multiple media reports.
Many of the gang’s members are of Somali background. However, Jacques said Calgary police have no information about a possible connection.
The Toronto Police Service also wasn’t able to confirm
if it’s involved in the Calgary investigation.
On Thursday morning, police cruisers and yellow tape blocked 36th Street from 17th to 19th Avenue S.W., a quiet residential road in Killarney with a mix of small, older bungalows and tall infills.
Police officers were seen entering the back of a dark brown multiplex, which has two residential units at the front and two at the back.
Red plastic beer cups littered the street in front of the home, and some nearby vehicles appeared to have been hit
by bullets. Dark clothing and purple paramedics’ gloves lay on the sidewalk nearby.
A man who has lived on the block for two years said he saw a party bus-like vehicle pull up around 2 a.m. and watched a group of people get out.
“It was New Year’s Eve, so you give them some leeway, and I didn’t phone in a complaint,” said the neighbour, who didn’t want to be named.
It quieted down so he assumed they’d all filed into the fourplex.
But about two and a half hours later, around 4:30 a.m., the party attendees started coming out and getting noisy again, he said.
“I heard some pops, which I thought were fireworks. They might have been shots. That got me out of bed quickly,” he said.
“I went to the window to see what was going on and people were running, scattering here and there, and then the police arrived.”
An autopsy for the shooting victim is scheduled for Friday.
This is a complex and fluid investigation, and at the moment we have more questions than answers. QUINN JACQUES ACTING POLICE DUTY INSPECTOR