Article content
Nearly half of Edmonton’s homicides so far this year are related to gang activity, says the city’s top police officer.
Commercial
This ad has not been uploaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
So far this year, the city has seen 28 confirmed homicides and when speaking to the media on Wednesday, Edmonton Police Chief Dale McFee said 11 of them are gang-related.
“Those are the ones (that are) obviously worrying, that means it’s gang against gang, gang within gang,” he said, adding that they have led to increased violence on city streets.
Drug trafficking has also played a role in this year’s homicides, with at least six of them directly related to drugs. McFee noted that 13 of the suspects and victims also knew each other.
McFee said the escalation of violence has been on the rise, a trend that he says is unfolding disproportionately in North America, especially the United States.
“We had an increase in violence within the call, not the number of calls, but an increase in violence within the call,” McFee said.
Commercial
This ad has not been uploaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
“A lot of that, as I said, is that aspect of the organized crime component, where we have teams that work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and we’re going to make it really uncomfortable for them.”
McFee said that much of the violence is unfolding in the center of the city and that the COVID-19 pandemic could be playing a role in part of it.
“But these people have been trying to blow up our cities for many, many years, and I think we are seeing it in front of them,” he said. “Some of that is quite blatant when they’re doing gangs against gangs, it’s in the public eye and that’s a concern.”
Of the 28 homicides to date, two of the victims are women and 26 are men. The youngest homicide victim in the city was 18, while the oldest was 56.
Seven people have died from stab wounds, six from gunshot wounds, four from cutting force injuries and one from blunt force trauma. The cause of death for eight of the victims has been withheld or the results are pending further evidence.
Commercial
This ad has not been uploaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Two of the 28 homicides involved men who were shot to death by Edmonton police. Police do not include these deaths in their official homicide count.
To date, 13 people have been charged in 12 homicides. Eight people have been charged with second degree murder, four people have been charged with first degree murder and one person has been charged with involuntary manslaughter.
Right now in 2020, there were 22 confirmed homicides.
Suspicious deaths
Edmonton police are also investigating several suspicious deaths in recent months.
Police found Peter Meyer, 64, dead in an apartment in the area of 66 Street and 120 Avenue on May 3. His cause of death has not been disclosed.
On May 21, a man whose name has not been released by police was hit by a dark-colored truck in a fatal hit-and-run. Homicide detectives continue to investigate his death.
Commercial
This ad has not been uploaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
The death of 21-year-old Ezekiel Bigstone is also considered suspicious. Officers were called to a local hospital Aug. 6 after staff found Bigstone in medical trouble at a traffic stop in the university area. Bigstone died in hospital.
The death of a 57-year-old man in the area of 92 Street and Stadium Road on August 12 also remains suspicious. While an autopsy was completed, the cause and manner of death are pending further evidence. Police have not released his name, saying there is a possibility that the death is not criminal.
Police are also investigating the death of 43-year-old Donald Blizzard, whose remains were found in Lac St. Anne County on September 13. Blizzard had been missing since July and police are treating his death as a suspect.
On October 3, police responded to reports of a shooting near 81st Avenue and 104th Street. When officers arrived, they located a man on the street who later died at the scene. The results of the autopsy have not yet been published and his death is being treated as suspicious.
Police are also investigating a suspicious death of a 43-year-old man that occurred Friday night after being called into a robbery. The autopsy is scheduled for October 12.
Reference-edmontonjournal.com