Police continue to investigate a triple shooting in the northeast community of Martindale that happened Saturday afternoon.
“We are still in shock. We don’t know those people but we really feel bad for the families,” said Sharnjeet Sandu who was in her house with her kids when she heart shots fired outside her garage.
“My kids started crying and then when I open the door the back door I just saw people calling and running, and the person who died was was just back of my garage,” Sandu said.
At around 3 p.m. Saturday, police responded to shots fired near the 100 block of Martindale Boulevard. One man was killed and two others were injured. Witnesses say it happened in the back alley.
“It’s really scary so my family is in shock. Nobody expects to see bodies lying around your house,” said Amandeep Singh who was walking with his daughter, leaving the Dashmesh Culture Centre when he heard the shots fired.
“When I rushed there, I saw there was a man who was lying on the ground with a gun shot in his back. We called 911 and within two minutes we saw somebody who was laying right there with gunshots on the stomach,” Singh said.
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“So, initially we thought it was one and we discovered another, and then within five or 10 minutes, we found out there were three people that have been shot,” Singh said.
“It looks like it happened in the back alley and the people who were shot ran towards the road and one person couldn’t run so he died on the spot,” he said.
“It’s a really busy area so for that to happen on the steps of our gurdwara and, on top of that, there’s people that actually saw the individual that was hurt and it was very concerning for people to see that,” said Raj Sidhu, director of operations at Dashmesh Culture Centre (DCC).
The road in front on the Dashmesh Culture Centre was shut down for hours as police investigated.
“We have a lot of seniors that take transit. The bus stop is right in front so at any given time there’s quite a few individuals that are on the street crossing the street walking to their homes in the area so it is concerning for something like that to happen at 3 p.m.,” Sidhu said.
He said the Dashmesh Culture Centre has been working with police, the area councillor and and community association regarding concerns that have been raised about some of the rental properties along Martindale Boulevard.
“Landlords and residents in the area and also our membership in our community just need to keep vigilant and keep an eye on what’s going on because this is a community issue. We can’t just hope that the police will resolve all our issues. We need to be an active partner with them and we need to do our job as well,” Sidhu said.
The president of the Martindale Community Association says a meeting is planned to discuss ways to deal with the violence.
“This is a family oriented neighbourhood and there’s a lot of kids and families and I urge the general public: please do not hold information to yourself. Report it if there’s any kind of violence or any kind of distressing situation that we’d like to know,” said Puma Banwait
“There’s a French immersion school here next-door to the DCC and the shooting occurred right here .We need safety for everyone. Old folks, our kids and the general public in Martindale,” Banwait said.
As of Sunday afternoon, there was no update from police if any arrests had been made.
“We are fortunate to say from our knowledge it was an isolated incident. Our hearts and condolences go out to the victims and family and friends. It shouldn’t happen,” Sidhu said.
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