Day after West Edmonton Mall shooting: Gun and vehicle seized, shooters unidentified

Two groups exchanged gunfire, injuring at least three, in a parking lot at West Edmonton Mall Monday evening, the Edmonton Police Service says.

Police do not have any persons of interest and no arrests have been made, but investigators believe the shootings were targeted, Acting Chief Darren Derko told reporters Tuesday morning.

“It appears one group was waiting for a second group of four males who were inside the mall,” Derko said.

“It was reported that four males left the mall and went to their vehicle when a second vehicle, a white coloured SUV, approached them and subsequently resulted in the exchange of gunfire.”

Three of the people who had initially been inside the mall were shot in the altercation.

Police have not identified the people in the other group and do not know if anyone from the group was injured.

After the shooting, Derko said two people from the first group ran back inside the mall.

“One into the Wild West Shooting Range with gunshot wounds, while the other fled through the mall and we do not believe that individual sustained any injuries.”

Police have not found the person.

The other three in his group were taken to hospital and are expected to survive.

The shooting was reported around 7:40 p.m. on Monday and the mall was placed in lockdown while tactical officers cleared the building.

The lockdown lasted more than two hours, ending around 10 p.m.

“Officers eventually recovered a handgun from inside the mall believed to be that of one of the people involved in the shooting,” Derko said.

Police were going to take the victims’ statements Tuesday, as they had required medical intervention Monday night.

As a result, Derko said he wasn’t able to provide any further information, such as the victim’s ages.

TARGETED INCIDENT

Derko says the events leading up to the shooting suggest to police that the incident was targeted.

“Who those groups are and their motivation behind the shooting is still not clear, however we do not believe there is any risk to the community at this time,” he said. “As with any major incident in a public place, we understand citizens are very concerned, especially those who were either working or visiting the mall last night.”

Without knowing who is involved, police do not know if either group will take any other violent action. But they are working to prevent it, Derko promised.

“It’s way too early to say that this is an ongoing feud or violence that’s going to continue,” he commented.

“It’s always concerning when something at this level happens when they’re targeted because the fear is the retribution is going to happen.

“It’s something that we’re working on and hopefully we can make some progress before that happens.”

While police haven’t identified the people in the second group, Derko says he believes EPS has found the white SUV they were in.

“It’s currently being seized and it’s very preliminary,” he told reporters.

“We need to determine if it was the actual vehicle involved and then we need to do forensics on it.”

MISINFORMATION AND SOCIAL MEDIA

As the events unfolded on Monday evening, Derko said a lot of bad information was swirling around social media.

“We know there was a lot of misinformation circulating, including suggestions that multiple people were deceased, which was thankfully not the case,” he said.

“I want to remind citizens to obtain their news from professional and legitimate news sources or from our website and social media pages directly. This will help limit the misinformation that gets out there.”

Derko also asked members of the public not to post photos or videos on social media from an active police scene.

“This can put you and our officers at risk,” he said.

“That can even alert the bad guys if they’re paying attention.”

Derko was asked how members of the public should respond if they find themselves in a situation like the one that unfolded at the mall.

“You should just be aware of your surroundings and know that if something happens or if you see something kind of going down to make sure that you get to a safe place,” he said.

“We’re seeing more and more violence, but incidents like this are still very isolated and rare. But when they do happen, be prepared to get to a safe place.”

In a statement to CTV News Edmonton Tuesday morning, West Edmonton Mall’s public relations team said it “continues to work with Edmonton Police Service in protecting our guests and providing above standard safety and security for patrons.”

The mall’s website did not indicate any change to its Tuesday business hours.