“I was scared because maybe I was going to die.”
It was a shocking confession to hear from a four-year-old girl – left anonymous at her mother’s request – but as gun violence spreads throughout Regina it’s one that is unfortunately becoming more common.
Greer Court was the scene of Regina’s fourth shooting in eight days, the latest taking place on Saturday night.
“I was playing at the basketball net and I heard a big sound, and I started running back to my house,” said Yusuf Abdullah.
Abdullah is one of the many neighbourhood kids Global News spoke to that were present for the shooting. None of them were more than 11 years old.
“We were running so fast, trying to get into our house. I saw the man bleeding in his hands,” he continued.
This shooting was the fourth that Regina has experienced in just over a week; one of 11 firearms related offences that have happened since June 2, 2018.
“That was the first time that ever happened in Greer Court, and it was the scariest thing,” noted an 11-year-old girl, whose mother asked she and her children remain anonymous.
The shooting happened just meters away from their back door.
“This is a family unit. What if one my kids was outside and they got shot? Who is going to be responsible for something like that?” the mother asked.
“Until we know that things are clear here, I would prefer my kids not going outside, because you never know now. Someone is getting shot right outside my door,” she continued.
Gun violence in the provincial capital is at a four year high
“We started noticing it quite a while ago. People in the neighbourhood were very concerned with the gunshots and the violence right on their own block,” Sandy Wankel, the executive director of North Central Family Centre said.
Regina Police dealt with four times as many violent incidents involving firearms between January 1 and May 31 in 2018 than they did in 2014.
“In the past year we’ve seized more guns than we’ve seized in the past five years,” Regina Police Service Chief Evan Bray said.
In May 2018 Regina police seized 61 guns, up from 42 the year before. They also dealt with 14 violent occurrences, compared to 10 in 2017.
In total RPS have seized 211 guns between January 1 and May 31, 2018; significantly higher than the five-year average of 138.2
When asked what was driving the increased gun crime, Chief Bray didn’t hesitate.
“It’s really tied to drug issues in our city. Methamphetamine is causing issues in our city. We know that people that have issues with drug addiction make high-risk, volatile decisions and we’re seeing that,” he continued. “We’re seeing that in how they’re driving vehicles, we’re seeing that in the crimes they’re committing and in many cases how bold they are in committing crimes.”
In this case bold was a shooting in a playground, surrounded by homes.
It’s a feeling Bray acknowledged.
“We know that a lot of the crime that’s happening, especially violent crime, there’s an association of some sort between the parties involved. That being said, we also know that drug addiction, and some of the real deep social issues don’t know boundaries of residential areas, of geographics, of even different cultures and people in our city,” he noted.
“That’s the challenge. We do talk about this being a safe city, but we also can’t ignore some of the challenges that we have.
Despite the increase in gun violence, Regina police maintain that the provincial capital is a safe city.
But four years of rising violence has taken its toll, and residents are beginning wonder whether or not that’s the case.
“Everyone should be able to feel safe, especially the families here,” the mother said.