People who live near a Castle Downs park are reeling after a fatal shooting early Monday evening — when it was still light out.
Edmonton police received several reports of gunshots at around 5:30 p.m. in the area of 172nd Avenue and 111th Street.
Police found a man dead inside a vehicle, Staff Sgt. Bill Clark said.
Clark said the suspects took off in a vehicle, heading south, but nobody has been arrested.
Police do not have a motive for the attack, Clark added.
“Just another random shooting in this city that’s disturbing the neighbourhood residents in this quiet residential area,” he said Monday evening.
There were multiple witnesses, Clark added.
“There were a bunch of people out and about and of course a lot of people in their houses that heard it.
“The good thing is we’re checking all the surveillance video in the area and pulling all that information.
“Our homicide section has been called in and they’ll be taking over the investigation.”
Investigators believe that dashcam footage could help the investigation. Anyone who was driving in the area of 111th Street and 172nd Avenue on Monday between 5 and 6 p.m. and may have dashcam footage is asked to contact police at 780-423-4567.
“It’s traumatizing,” said Abebe Aligaz, who lives nearby. “The first thing I saw … was police on my doorstep, an ambulance there. The first thing that’s going through my head is: ‘Did something happen to my family?’ This is normally a peaceful neighbourhood.
“It was a scary moment.
“Hopefully it doesn’t happen again. Hopefully our city stays safe.”
His mother saw someone running on the sidewalk at the time of the shooting.
“The neighbour told me: ‘Don’t go out. Somebody (was) shot and killed’ … so I closed my door,” Yeshareg Meskelu said.
Police arrived after that, she said.
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Castle Downs is usually fairly quiet, Meskelu said.
“This is the first time I’ve seen this stuff … It’s shocking.”
Maria Akuti also lives in the area. She said the community has been asking for lights in the park to improve safety. She said there are often people from outside the neighbourhood there at night.
“You are almost afraid to go to the park,” she said.
“We were promised that we would get some type of lights … nothing. Nothing is happening.
“I guess that’s the result.
“Finally they’re going to realize that even when it’s a quiet neighbourhood, it’s not really like that, because at night, there’s a lot happening around here. Hopefully now they’ll put some lights across the street in the park.”
Akuti said her husband heard gunshots.
“It just makes you feel very insecure even when you live in a neighbourhood where you never see stuff happen like this.”
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