EDMONTON – The University of Alberta’s Hub Mall and Residence re-opened on Saturday after being shut down the day following the shooting that left 3 G4S security guards dead and one injured.
A spokeswoman for the University of Alberta said the building opened again at about 2:15 a.m. Saturday morning. “Hopefully it will be back to normal as much as possible,” said Deb Hammacher.
And aside from some flowers and a boarded up door, you would never tell a horrific scene had taken place there just a day earlier.
But for those like Ian Brieitzke, who was one of the witnesses to the aftermath of the shootings, the images still haven’t left his mind. “When you walk by the images of what happened, or what I saw, are definitely in the back of my mind,” he says. “You can see the bodies that were there.”
A memorial was held Friday evening on campus to give him and other students a chance to express their grief.
It was “a chance to let students grieve, a chance to let them talk about peace, find a place of comfort…so they can begin to process what happened,” explains Anglican chaplain at the U of A, Susan Oliver Martin.
A more formal service is planned for the near future.
Meanwhile, police provided an update Saturday afternoon on the ongoing hunt for 21 year-old suspect Travis Baumgartner.
They still believe he is driving a dark blue Ford F-150, and think the license plate he may be using is CAA 636.
Police ask both city and rural residents to be on the look-out for the vehicle, as well as Baumgartner, but stress that if anyone who sees him should not approach him as he is considered to be armed and extremely dangerous. Instead, they should police or Crime Stoppers.
With files from Slav Kornik and Vassy Kapelos, Global News; and Postmedia News
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