Six people were arrested and the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team is investigating after an early-morning pursuit, which started several hours northeast of Edmonton and ended in central Alberta.
RCMP said the situation began in Lac La Biche on Thursday at around 10:30 p.m., after a vehicle carrying several people drove into a parking lot near an apartment building and two shots were fired at two other vehicles. The three vehicles left the scene and officers were not able to stop them. Police said no one was injured.
Hours later, on Friday at around 1:30 a.m., Redwater RCMP were called after a vehicle matching the description of the complaint in Lac La Biche was involved in an attempted armed robbery.
Officers said several people demanded money from a person who was outside a service station in Redwater.
Police said one suspect pointed a gun at the victim, who refused to comply with the demands. When the suspects left the scene, RCMP briefly pursued the vehicle before the chase was called off.
The ordeal continued in Redwater when RCMP were called to another complaint of an attempted armed robbery. In this case, suspects confronted a man who was stopped in a vehicle on the side of a road.
Police said the man was shot in the arm when the suspects tried to enter his vehicle. The suspects left the scene.
The victim was taken to hospital in Edmonton with non-life-threatening injuries.
Members of the Edmonton Police Service were notified of the vehicle, which was later spotted within the city. When the vehicle left Edmonton and into RCMP jurisdiction, members of the Leduc, Wetaskiwin, Beaumont and Maskwacis RCMP detachments became involved.
The vehicle was abandoned north of Wetaskiwin. Edmonton police and the RCMP police dog team began following five suspects, who were eventually arrested.
Police setting up a perimeter checkpoint came upon another vehicle believed to be involved in the incident. During the encounter, a member of the RCMP discharged his firearm. One person, who was not injured, was taken into custody.
Both vehicles involved were determined to be stolen, according to RCMP.
Six people remain in custody. The suspects’ names have not been released but police said they include a 16-year-old boy, a 17-year-old boy, an 18-year-old woman, a 23-year-old man, a 24-year old man and a 33-year-old man.
Police said there was there was never any public safety concern.
ASIRT is brought in to investigate anytime an incident involving Alberta’s police results in serious injury or death to any person, as well as serious or sensitive allegations of police misconduct.
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