CLARESHOLM – A jilted ex-boyfriend is believed to be the shooter behind the overnight roadside rampage near Claresholm that left a woman and two promising southern Alberta baseball athletes dead, and another woman injured.
The gunman, thought to be driving alone on the dark highway just north of the town early Thursday morning, sprayed bullets at two men and two women travelling together to Calgary, before turning the weapon on himself.
One woman survived the attack.
The mass killing stunned the rural Alberta town and devastated friends and families of the victims, all in their 20s.
“I don’t know why. That’s a question that everyone’s going to be asking for a long time – is why,” said Todd Hubka, who had coached Tanner Craswell and Mitch Maclean at Prairie Baseball Academy in Lethbridge.
“There’s probably no answer to that one.”
Craswell, who turned 22 on Wednesday, and Maclean, 20, were up-and-coming baseball players and best friends.
Originally from Prince Edward Island, the two were heading to the Calgary International Airport to catch an early morning flight home for Christmas.
Shayna Conway, also in her early 20s, survived the shooting. Conway, believed to be the girlfriend of one of the victims, is recovering at the Foothills Medical Centre.
A source told the Herald the gunman is thought to be an ex-boyfriend of one of the two women travelling in the vehicle with the baseball players.
Social media sites identified the dead woman as Tabitha Stepple.
When contacted by the Herald, a man who identified himself as her father declined to comment.
Montana’s Cookhouse, where Stepple worked, wasn’t open Thursday night. A note on the door said the business was closed due to a “death in the family.”
Teammates of Maclean and Craswell gathered at the Lethbridge baseball academy as the news sunk in.
“It’s devastating,” said Hubka. “I love them both. I’ll miss them. They were good kids, good teammates.”
The men graduated from the baseball program last year.
Craswell, who helped coach at the academy, was upgrading some college courses and planned to continue his university education next year.
Get breaking National news
Maclean was upgrading courses to attend Louisiana State University in Shreveport.
They left Lethbridge at about 1 a.m. to catch their early morning flight, said Hubka. The coach said he didn’t know the identity of the woman who was killed in the shooting.
The deadly scene played out at 3:30 a.m.
Claresholm RCMP were called to the northbound lane of Highway 2 north of the town for reports of gunfire.
They found two vehicles, three bodies and two wounded victims.
The gunman shot to death a man and woman at the scene, before killing himself.
A man was flown to Calgary’s Foothills Hospital in critical condition, but later died. A woman was rushed via ground ambulance to the hospital and is recovering from her injuries.
RCMP Sgt. Patrick Webb said the woman may be able to provide the only first-hand account of the horrific slayings.
Investigators haven’t yet spoken to the survivor.
“Our primary concern is she recover from this,” said Webb. “We believe she’s going to be able to provide us with a large amount of information about what happened and the circumstances.”
Early investigation suggests the shooter was driving alone when he confronted the vehicle carrying four passengers.
Police can’t say what type of weapon was used or how many bullets were fired.
Webb said authorities are considering domestic violence as a potential motive, but haven’t reached any conclusions.
RCMP closed a stretch of Highway 2 four kilometres north and south of the town of Claresholm for much of the day Thursday as they investigated the deaths.
Police investigators pored over a crime scene in the northbound lanes of Highway 2 at Township Road 130.
A green Pontiac Sunfire was towed away from the scene.
Later, an SUV with two broken windows on the driver’s side and a broken rear window, was taken away by Skyline Towing, according to the company’s owner and operator Dean Baxter.
He said the SUV was being taken to Calgary.
“There was blood and matter inside the vehicle and outside the vehicle,” Baxter said. “There was luggage and that kind of stuff in the vehicle.”
Up to 15 investigators, including members of identification and major crimes sections, worked the scene.
Claresholm Mayor David Moore said the town of 3,700 residents about 100 kilometres south of Calgary was completely taken aback by what happened.
“We don’t have anything like this happen in Claresholm. It’s a pretty huge event for a town our size.”
Claresholm resident Brent Chimko said locals chatting at a coffee shop Thursday morning were initially curious if the crime involved anyone from town.
“It’s shocking. I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said, eyeing the crime scene from the side of the highway.
Already, some are saying the incident may have started at a 7-Eleven store in town.
“It’s just hearsay,” said Chimko, who added he lives near the shop and didn’t see or hear anything unusual.
Thursday evening, inside the Prairie Baseball Academy field house in Lethbridge, Coach Hubka spoke of how Craswell and Maclean embodied the baseball academy’s values of “pride, dedication, opportunity.”
Last year, Craswell was starting shortstop and Maclean was the starting second baseman.
Current and former players crowded the rooms downstairs, and counsellors from Lethbridge College were on hand to help.
A few players milled around the batting cages, taking solitary practice swings in their street clothes, talking quietly among themselves and offering hugs to passing teammates.
Hubka began phoning players when he heard the news, but said it didn’t take long for word to spread among alumni and others affiliated with the team, who began streaming over to the field house.
“The Prairie Baseball Academy’s a big family. Baseball’s like a big family – we’re not big like hockey, so everybody knows everybody in baseball in Canada,” he said.
Both players’ families are a long way away, but Hubka said they are not being forgotten.
“We love them, and we’re with them,” he said.
Prairie Baseball Academy president Mel Collier said the current team has many players from P.E.I. and New Brunswick.
“They really looked up to Mitch and Tanner,” said Collier, who is also director of the Lethbridge Bulls team, where both players had played summer ball.
Earlier in the day, Claresholm residents awoke to the jarring news, which quickly became the talk of the town
It’s disturbing to hear that police are probing multiple deaths, said resident Trudi Alsgard.
“I feel bad for whoever it was. It’s so close to Christmas,” she said.
With files from Meghan Potkins, Calgary Herald
Comments