A Calgary teacher was the innocent victim of a “targeted shooting” in northeast Calgary on Friday.
Loralee Montens, facility operator at Clarence Samson School in Pineridge, was home from work because she had knee surgery on Wednesday.
A colleague who teaches at the school came by Friday during the lunch hour to pick up a box of produce. That’s when she said bullets started flying.
At least three bullets hit Loralee’s home. One of them went through the front door, shattering the glass and hitting the teacher in the leg.
The shattered glass that used to be part of the interior door is now scooped up into a bucket.
A young man who was likely the intended target also took refuge in the house.
“I heard two or three gunshots down the street and then my teacher friend who was here picking up his GoodFood box turned around … Then I heard a young gentleman screaming for someone to call 911,'” Montens recalled.
“All of a sudden my teacher friend dropped, and I’m already on 911 hiding in the corner.”
Due to the proximity of two schools in the area, the Calgary Board of Education locked them down as the situation unfolded. Police said they did not believe the school or any students were in danger because the shooting was targeted.
Clarence Sansom School across the street from Monten’s house was one of the schools that went into lockdown. The school’s principal jumped into action providing medical help to the injured teacher.
“It was a blur … My principal put the building into lockdown and then ran across the street, knocked on the door and we let her in because she told us who she was. She pulled off her hoodie and tied it around (the teacher’s) leg as tight as she could,” Montens said.
On Saturday, there were still police markers where another bullet went through the side of the front of the house and entered a room inside.
Another bullet chipped the tile at the entrance and damaged the wall.
In a social media post on Saturday, the teacher posted saying he’s doing okay.
The targeted young man was uninjured but things could have been much worse for everyone involved.
Montens, who just had knee surgery, felt helpless.
“I saw the young man’s backpack fall to the ground, and the police said he had bullet holes in his backpack,” Montens said.
She said she saw a white SUV drive by after the shots were fired.
A suspect vehicle was located a short time later several blocks away, near the intersection of 32nd Avenue and 60th Street Northeast. The vehicle had been abandoned, windows had been shattered and, according to police, someone had attempted to set the interior on fire.
The search for the shooter is still ongoing.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact police at 403-266-1234.