Neighbours concerned with chaos caused by alleged drug house in Edmonton

On one quiet residential street in Mill Woods, one property stands out for the chaos and crime police say it has brought to neighbours.

The house on 32nd Avenue closed by Alberta Sheriffs last week is notorious. Locals and police called it a drug house.

Police officers have knocked on the door of the home more than 250 times in the last decade.

A neighbour tells me he’s been living in constant fear and anxiety for decades now, there’s some hope their troubles are over, but for how long?

“You leave in the morning and you go to work and don’t know if your wife is safe or your kids are safe,” said one nearby resident.

Neighbours are frustrated after years of on-again, off-again trouble on the street.

“Crack house. Drug house. That’s all we know. That was the first thing I was told when I moved to the neighbourhood,” said Corey Lafosse, a neighbour.

It’s a magnet for trouble

Multiple neighbours telling CityNews they’ve seen people using drugs, what looks like drug deals, and stolen goods, and emergency vehicles coming and going, fighting at all hours of the night.

“There was a lot of scuffles out here. Just people that are dealing here, or staying here, would get high and they’d get into arguments and breakout into wrestle matches,” said one neighbour.

“Just grateful this is gone.”

Some neighbours feel intimidated to speak out publicly, worried that when the forced 90-day closure ends, the chaos and the problem visitors will come back.

“I heard footsteps going downstairs – thought that’s my wife. Look, here’s a total stranger, she goes ‘where’s Marshall?’” I go – you’re in the wrong house,” the neighbour explained.

Property records CityNews obtained show the home is registered to Marshall Schultz.

Schultz has a lengthy criminal history with convictions for possessing drugs and a stolen vehicle.

This is the third time police have shuttered the property.

Neighbours are wondering why it took so long, hoping for an end to the saga.

“Everybody in this neighbourhod knew exactly what’s going on. I don’t understand how it takes this long to deal with, like two deaths – two people overdosed and died here,” said Lafosse.

“The guy has created havoc in the community, and what do you do? We don’t have the resources to babysit these people.”

After 90 days, only the owner can return, but sheriffs hope the owner will sell.

“We will support the owner in the sale, because that’s the best outcome for the community, which is the property selling,” said Karleen Schenkey, an investigator with Alberta Sheriffs.