Man killed in Edmonton shooting that also left boy, 11, dead was targeted before: EPS
Posted November 10, 2023 11:36 am.
Last Updated November 10, 2023 12:25 pm.
We’re learning more about a targeted shooting that left a man and his 11-year-old son dead in Edmonton Thursday.
The 41-year-old has been identified as Harpreet Uppal. The Edmonton Police Service says Uppal was “very well known” to investigators, and that he was “high up in the in the gang drug world.”
The man was with his son and another boy when shots were fired in a shopping centre parking lot off of Ellerslie Road at 50th Street, investigators explain.
READ MORE: 11-year-old and his father killed in ‘targeted’ Edmonton shooting
Colin Derksen, acting superintendent of the EPS Criminal Investigations Division, says police generally wait to release the identity of people who have been killed, until their death is confirmed to be a homicide or not.
“But there are times we make exceptions if there’s public safety issues or the there’s an investigative need, i.e. tips that can be generated in this case,” he said Friday.
He says one of the main reasons they’ve publicly identified Uppal is because he was previously targeted in a shooting in Edmonton in October 2021 at a Royal Pizza restaurant.
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The EPS says, in that incident, video showed a suspect walking up to the restaurant and firing through a window, forcing the family to dive out of the way of gunfire.
Multiple arrest warrants were issued, and a 26-year-old man turned himself in.
Derksen confirms the charges against that man were dropped, but would not say if he was being considered a suspect in Thursday’s shooting.
11-year-old ‘was not caught in the crossfire or killed by mistake’: police
Edmonton police say while it’s clear Uppal was targeted, there is still more to figure out when it comes to why his 11-year-old son was killed.
“Mr. Uppal, we … absolutely believe he was targeted in the sense that he was followed with the intention of finding him and ending his life. And it happened,” said Derksen of the 41-year-old.
“We don’t know yet, and I hope we learn for sure that it wasn’t the case that he was followed with the intention of killing him,” added Derksen while talking about the 11-year-old boy.
“What we do know, and sadly, is that once the shooter or shooters saw [the boy] was there, they killed him,” Derksen continued. “He was not caught in the crossfire or killed by mistake.”
At this time, police have not released the name of Uppal’s son.
Derksen went on to explain organized crime has changed recently, saying he finds instances like Thursday’s shooting to be “sick and twisted.”
That sentiment was echoed by Dan Jones a former Edmonton police inspector, who is now the Chair of Justice Studies at Norquest.
“This is just another level of violence that we haven’t seen for a long time in the Canadian context.”
Another boy was with father, son when fatal shooting rang out, police say
Meanwhile, the EPS has confirmed there was another boy with the father and son at the time of the shooting.
Derksen confirms the boy was still in the vehicle at the time and was not physically injured.
Police say the boy is around the same age as the 11-year-old who was killed.
