EDMONTON - Three people were shot and killed at the University of Alberta overnight Thursday following an armed robbery attempt on a G4S armoured truck.
A fourth victim is in hospital with critical injuries, said Staff Sgt. Erik Johnson with Edmonton police southwest division.
Police were called to reports of gunshots at the University of Alberta’s HUB Mall, which runs the length of several blocks along 112th Street, shortly after midnight.
Three of the victims – two men and one woman – died of their injuries.
The fourth victim, also a man, was taken to hospital in critical condition, Johnson said.
The University of Alberta posted an alert on its website early Friday morning indicating the shooting involved an armoured car company, but police were not confirming that information and Johnson could not provide the name of the company.
HUB Mall was cleared and secured by police, he said.
“The police investigation is ongoing and they are chasing leads as we speak,” police spokesman Scott Pattison said from the scene. Police initially believed a lone shooter remained at large, but continue to question witnesses with some taken to headquarters while others remained at the scene.
Pattison could not confirm whether the victims were employees of an armoured truck company, and said their identities will not be released pending notification of kin.
“Obviously detectives are interviewing everybody and anybody that may have seen what happened and possibly the suspect or suspects fleeing the scene,” Pattison said.
Carl Amrheim, the U of A provost extended his condolences to the families of victims on behalf of the university.
“This is terrible,” Amrheim said. “This is the sort of thing you hope never occurs.”
The university crisis management team, of which he is the chair, was contacted by university at around 1 a.m.
Jacqueline Woo, a science student at the U of A and resident of HUB going into her third year, said it was just after 11:30 p.m. on Thursday when she and a friend heard two loud cracks. “We thought it was hammering or some sort of construction,” Woo said, her voice trembling.
The pair of friends left their room to investigate. They found police officers running down the hall. They conferred with other concerned students and realized the two loud cracks had been gunshots. They continued walking to the south side of the mall until they found seven officers in bulletproof vests escorting a wounded man out of the mall on a stretcher.
The man’s shirt was off and his face was bloodied, Woo said.
The two women returned to their room and immediately turned to Twitter to get more information.
Julie Yekimchuk, a fourth year bachelor of arts student at U of A, said news of the shooting spread quickly through the school on social media, with some students reporting they were in “lockdown” at about 12:30 a.m. Friday.
“It’s pretty shocking. You never think something like that could happen,” said Yekimchuk.
She said the school was still a busy place with final exams and a conference taking place.
As of about 4:30 a.m., three city buses remained at the University Transit Centre to shelter shocked students from a steady rain after dozens of police cars descended on the U of A campus. One ambulance remained on the scene.
Portions of the mall were taped off by police with officers maintaining watch at various points around the building. Police said the homicide unit is investigating and they expect the scene to be closed off for several hours.
As far as Amrheim knows the University of Alberta campus will be operating regularly on Friday except for HUB Mall complex, although students who have exams on Friday can have those tests deferred if they wish.
The university is offering counselling to students affected by the events.
“We have a social media team, we have a website with an emergency broadcast system,” said Amrhein, adding the university also has an elaborate telephone system in a situation like this to notify students.
“The safety and security of faculty, staff and students is our first priority,” Amrheim said.
Yiran Cao, a math student at the university is part of the emergency system and did not receive an email or alert at the time of the shooting.
“(There was) just no information from the university at the time,” Cao said.
“Nobody came to us. Nobody secured us at the time.”
The Canadian political science association’s annual conference is being held at the U of A this week. The conference attracts hundreds of delegates, students and profs across Canada and internationally.
The university was working to contact organizers. “We think that the conference will be able to proceed.”
Representatives of Alberta Health Services would not comment on the condition of the fourth victim and instead referred the matter back to police.
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UofA Armored Truck Shooting
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