Two men are dead and three people are in custody after shootings at a pair of 24 hour convenience stores in Edmonton Friday morning.
Police received a panic call around 3:30 a.m. from a Mac's Convenience Store located at 32 Avenue and 82 Street. Police called the store three times and received no answer. When police arrived on scene they found a man who had been shot. Officers started CPR while waiting for paramedics. Karanpal Singh Bhangu, 35, was rushed to hospital but died shortly after from his injuries.
Around 15 minutes after the first incident, police received a call that said a store clerk was injured at another Mac's store, this one located at 108 Street and 61 Avenue.
The 41-year-old store clerk was pronounced dead at the scene. His name will not be released until his family is notified.
Police officers fanned out to check on other Mac’s stores in the area after the two incidents. That is when officers from the southwest division noticed a vehicle in the Callingwood area matching the suspect’s description. When officers approached, the vehicle fled.
Police chased the car eastbound on Whitemud Drive where the vehicle collided into a barrier under the Terwilliger overpass and the suspects were arrested without incident.
Three male suspects, who police connect to both armed robberies, were arrested and taken into custody. The suspects are 13, 24 and 26 years of age.
Traffic was being diverted off of Whitemud Drive while the investigation was underway for most of the morning. Police said the road was reopened around 11:15 a.m.
In a statement Friday Mac’s Convenience Stores Vice-President for western Canada, Bonnie Birollo, said that it was a sad day for the company.
“My heart aches for the many lives impacted by this tragedy and especially for the families of the two victims. We are doing all we can to support our people and to reach out to those in need,” Birollo said.
In an interview with CTV, Edmonton Police Service Chief Rod Knecht said that EPS is trying to make sense of why someone would choose to rob a convenience store.
“These can be people that are under the influence of drugs. They’re people that are desperate for whatever reason. Or they’re people who just don’t care, or just totally disengaged from society,” said Knecht.
The police chief also noted that robberies like these are not very common in Edmonton.
“We haven’t had robberies with violence in this city for a long time,” he said. “Let alone robberies with a homicide.”
In a news conference on Friday afternoon, Knecht expressed his upset over the shootings and said that Edmontonians should be outraged.
“This was a barbaric and gratuitous act of violence upon two innocent persons resulting in a senseless loss of life,” said Knecht.
With files from David Ewasuk
