Editor’s note: RCMP originally reported it was the property owner who was shot at. The article was updated after Global News learned the person who had been shot at was a ranch hand.
A ranch hand who was shot at following a robbery in Springbank, Alta., told Global News the situation could have “gone south in a hurry” if the thieves had “turned their gun a separate way or misfired.”
RCMP said that on July 27, at around 7 a.m., employees interrupted the suspects as they were loading the stolen property onto a vehicle.
Dawson Northcott said he heard one of the ATVs leaving the ranch. He then pulled up the security camera feed on his phone to find the suspects in a Ford truck “loading stuff onto the back of it.”
Northcott said that, as he was trying to get the license plate on the truck, it sped away. He followed the truck only to be intercepted by a red SUV that pulled in front of him.
“It pulls off into a no exit road and the red SUV pulls up on my passenger side and shoots across my truck with a shotgun. So, when I pulled ahead, I let everyone go, because I wasn’t sticking around for that,” he said.
He said he hadn’t expected the red SUV, which he had passed earlier as he was following the Ford truck, would be involved.
“My heart was racing,” he said.
Police are looking for a black Ford F-150 Fx4 with a red stripe down the side, with an Alberta licence plate, as well as a red SUV with an Idaho licence plate.
Anyone with information about this incident or any of the people involved is asked to call RCMP at (403) 851-8000 or contact Crime Stoppers.