WATCH ABOVE: As Carolyn Kury de Castillo reports, the father of one of the victims is calling his son a hero. At their request, we have agreed not to show the faces of the victim’s family.
EDMONTON – The father of one of the three people shot dead on two rural properties near Consort, Alberta says a confrontation took place at his son’s home.
RCMP have not confirmed the names of the people killed, but family members have identified them as 43-year-old Shawn Lindsay, 39-year-old Joseph Sylvester and 44-year-old Christine Clifford.
Bob said Sylvester worked for Shawn for seven years, but was fired two weeks ago.
“I’ve heard Joe say he was going to kill somebody before, but he never did, so I guess we should have taken him seriously,” said Bob.
He said when Shawn saw Sylvester in his home, he “threw him out of the house… but didn’t take the gun away from him.”
Bob said his son said “I don’t want to shoot him, I don’t want to shoot him.”
“He killed Joe and Joe shot him.”
The RCMP was called to the home around 3:30 a.m. Friday and found two men had been shot. One was dead the and the other seriously injured.
“We received a call from within the residence that there was an incident there involving firearms,” said Staff Sgt. Roberta Mckale with Consort RCMP.
“We have a witness that was within the residence. There were other people there and one of them called us advising us that there was an incident involved and it had progressed to where firearms were involved.”
Bob said Shawn stayed alive for three hours before succumbing to his injuries.
Bob described his son as a hero.
Officers learned that before this shooting, a woman had been shot by one of the men at her home, another rural property.
“Officers and emergency personnel attended that second location and they did locate a woman, a 44-year-old woman, that had been shot and was deceased,” said Sgt. Josée Valiquette.
The RCMP confirmed all three people knew each other.
Shawn’s family believes Clifford – who they say lived with Sylvester – likely tried to stop him.
“I came home and I said ‘we better find out where Chrissy is,'” said Bob.
“We couldn’t get her on the phone. We figured we better get up to the trailer and send the cops up to the trailer to see if she’s OK, see if she’s there. She was there,” he said.
“I imagine she tried to stop him and that’s why she got killed.”
“Her husband died two years ago from a heart attack,” he added. “She has four girls. I know they don’t have anybody.”
Watch below: Three people were shot to death at two different rural properties near Consort, Alberta. Shallima Maharaj reports.
Residents in the small rural community of Consort were shaken by the deaths.
“I feel for the kids that were involved more than anything. Being a mom myself it’s tough to think about little children without their parents because of that kind of violence,” said Nicky St. Pierre, who said she didn’t know the victims personally.
“I didn’t know them very well,” said Codie Beres, “but I know a lot of people that did know them and are quite good friends with them. It’s a tragic loss for a few families.”
Both properties have been secured by police. RCMP say they are not looking for any suspects at this time and that the victims’ families have been notified.
No officers were involved in the shooting.
Watch below: Raw video footage from one of two crime scenes near Consort, Alberta
RCMP Red Deer Major Crimes Unit is helping in the investigation, along with the RCMP Special Tactical Operations and the Forensic Identification section.
“This is a complicated situation. This is not straightforward,” said Mckale. “This is not as straightforward as what some people are thinking.”
An official with the village would only say the community of 700 people is dealing with a tragedy.
“Events such as these affect every community member so we ask for your compassion and privacy.”
Consort is 220 kilometres east of Red Deer near the Saskatchewan boundary.
Singer k.d. lang, who is from Consort, send a message on Twitter after hearing about the shooting.
(NOTE: This article was originally published on Friday, Oct. 3 and was updated on Saturday, Oct. 4 to include an interview with Bob Lindsay)
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