6 deaths in 4 separate shootings in Edmonton in past 10 days

Last year there was an average of 13 shootings a month in Edmonton – that’s almost one every other day.

Investigators believe in 85 per cent of the cases, the victims were specifically targeted.

And it’s gotten worse this year. In January, Edmonton police investigated 19 gun-related incidents – compared to 11 in the same month last year.

“We know that in the last several months, beginning much more seriously during the pandemic, the police began to seize a steady number of frightening guns,” said Temitope Oriola, a professor of criminology and sociology at the University of Alberta. “In terms of the sheer volume, as well as the degree of sophistication of those weapons.”

This month alone there have already been multiple gun-related deaths in the city.

On March 7, a man and a woman were shot and killed while in their vehicle in northeast Edmonton.

On Wednesday, also in the northeast, a 20-year-old man was found dead in the street – a victim of what witnesses told CityNews was multiple gunshot wounds.

And Thursday, two Edmonton police officers – Const. Brett Ryan, 30, and Const. Travis Jordan, 35 – were allegedly killed by a 16-year-old who police say died of a self-inflicted gun wound.

WATCH: 2 Edmonton police officers killed during domestic call; suspect dead and 1 hospitalized

“The two-year pandemic, and the strains, we know that all kind of crime went up during the pandemic,” said Oriola. “Domestic violence, particularly against female spouses, that spiked. So you add to that unemployment, mental-health problems, social isolation, drug addiction and all of those variables have contributed into creating this unhealthy state of affairs.”

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This past weekend, just one block away from where Ryan and Jordan were fatally shot, a Pizza Hut employee was randomly shot by a man with a rifle.

In 2022, Edmonton police’s northwest branch had the highest number of shootings at 19 per cent of the year’s total

Oriola says several areas north of Edmonton’s downtown are emerging as crime hotspots.

“Concentrated disadvantage at an individual and societal level all play a role in the social distribution of this kind of violence,” he said. “Violence in general, but targeted violence as the type we are beginning to witness.

“It is through informal social control, the capacity to work together for the common good. In the end that’s all we can do as individual citizens.”