Calgary police say the man who survived a “brazen” daytime shooting in the North Hill Co-Op grocery store parking lot in the city’s northeast on Tuesday was an innocent bystander.
He was one of two men rushed to Foothills Hospital in critical condition around 8 p.m. Monday.
One of the men who was shot died later in hospital while the condition of the surviving victim has since been upgraded to stable.
“It’s important we want to clarify that surviving victim is not believed to be connected to the shooting, and is not known to the deceased individual. This person is a complete, innocent victim in the city of Calgary,” said Staff Sgt. Mike Shute of the Calgary Police Service Homicide Unit.
“He was not trying to intervene. He was not trying to assist. He was caught in an ongoing act of shooting. He attempted to flee that area to safety and he ended up being shot in the process, so there was no fault of his.”
Homicide investigators have identified the man who was killed as 35-year-old Leslie Babajid Cole, who was known to police.
“This is believed to be a targeted, organized crime related event,” said Shute.
A witness who spoke to Global News shortly after the shooting described hearing gunshots as he was shopping for groceries, then seeing a man come running into the Co-Op with a gunshot wound to his foot.
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“He sat down in front of the counter and said, ‘I’m shot, I’m shot,’” said Alex Boisselle. “So somebody wrapped it and then he looked up at me and said, ‘There’s a shooting outside.’”
Boisselle said when he ran outside he saw the other victim, who appears to have been the target of the shooting, lying on the ground in the parking lot.
While Shute said “no arrests have been made and no suspects are currently in custody,” he did confirm that police are looking for two suspects involved in the shooting.
The shooting took place “as people were standing in the parking lot,” said Shute, but he refused to release any details on how the suspects escaped the area — whether on foot or in a vehicle — in order to protect the investigation.
However, police are making a public plea for help.
“Organized crime-related violence is historically difficult to solve and answers often lie within the community. Our efforts to address this issue rely strongly on community support,” said Shute.
“We’re asking anyone that may have witnessed the incident or have dashcam or CCTV footage of that area at the time of the incident to contact the police or Crime Stoppers.”
News of the shooting also drew an angry response from Ward 4 Coun.DJ Kelly, who lives steps from where it took place and sayshis doorbell camera recorded the noise of eight to 10 shots “very loud and clearly.”
“I was standing at the very spot where this happened not two hours before I went to a council meeting,” said Kelly.
“My daughter, five minutes before the shots occurred, decided she was going to go to the grocery store and get something to eat. If it were not for infinite scroll on her cellphone, she would have been there at that exact moment in time.”
He also had some strong words for those involved.
“I highly, strongly recommend that you go and turn yourself in today so that Calgary Police Service is not hunting you down for the rest of your miserable existence,” said Kelly.
“Finally to anybody who may know who these perpetrators are, maybe harbouring them, maybe working with them, or for that matter, you may be the kind of person who this is the kind life you lead (I have) a very clear, simple message for you: get the f— out of our city.”
Anyone who wants to provide tips anonymously to police can contact Crime Stoppers by calling 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS), online at www.calgarycrimestoppers.org or by downloading the Crime Stoppers app (P3 Tips) from your app store.
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