'He is out to kill': Mother of teen injured in St. Albert drive-by shooting describes incident
The mother of one of three teens injured in a drive-by shooting in St. Albert over the weekend says she's grateful her daughter is alive.
"Just absolute, stomach churning, shock," Erin Donnelly said describing the incident to CTV News Edmonton on Tuesday.
Donnelly says her daughter Kayte had offered to drive two friends home from a gathering around 12:30 a.m. on Monday when they spotted a white van.
"They presumed that it was their friends who had just left moments before. So as the car was driving by and [her friend] was getting into the car, he gave him the finger," she said.
"The second that he realized it wasn't his friends, he said to Kayte, 'Oh my gosh, that wasn't him.'"
Donnelly said the van followed her daughter's car to Levasseur Road and Grandin Road where both vehicles stopped at a red light.
"She noticed the car pull up right beside her thinking that he was just going to give them a shaky fist, like, 'You kids, don't do that.'"
"He just started shooting at them and directly targeting [her friend] because the bullets, two of them hit him in the back, and one hit the window frame of her car."
A car carrying three teenagers was shot by an unknown person in St. Albert on Sept. 2, 2024. (Amanda Anderson/CTV News Edmonton)
She says Kayte drove off and called for help.
She and her friends were transported to the Stollery Children's Hospital.
Some of Kayte's other friends came to her house to tell her parents what had happened at the same time the police arrived.
"I was just screaming, 'Oh my God!' just frantic, trying to get clothes on from your pyjamas, and just figuring out what you're going to do to get to your child."
A car carrying three teenagers was shot by an unknown person in St. Albert on Sept. 2, 2024. (Amanda Anderson/CTV News Edmonton)
Donnelly says her daughter was left with shotgun pellets in the back of her head and glass in her leg.
She says if her daughter had been driving a newer vehicle, the injuries could have been much worse.
"This is a steel beast, right? These aren't plastic. This is why it didn't go through," she said, pointing out the shotgun marks in her daughter's 1993 Toyota Corolla.
A car carrying three teenagers was shot by an unknown person in St. Albert on Sept. 2, 2024. (Amanda Anderson/CTV News Edmonton)
Donnelly says her daughter described the van as a white minivan with tinted windows.
The driver is described as a white man between 30 and 45, with facial hair, a baseball cap, and smoking a cigarette.
"He is dangerous and he is out to kill," she said. "There's no doubt about that. This was not a warning shot."
She says in addition to their physical injuries, Kayte and her friends have a long road to mentally recovering from the incident.
"Having to tell your daughter who just had a near death experience that 'It just wasn't your time' is stomach churning," she said.
"She's strong and she's tough and we're definitely getting counseling. This is definitely going to be something she has to work through.
"I have no doubt in my mind that as she grows that this has changed her."
Police are looking for area surveillance camera footage from the area between 12:30 a.m. and 1 a.m. That includes the Grandin, Riel and Heritage Lakes subdivisions.
Anyone with information or footage can call St. Albert RCMP at 780-458-7700. Anonymous tips can be given to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or at www.p3tips.com.
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Amanda Anderson
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Police arrest Toronto woman in connection with three recent homicides
Police have arrested a Toronto woman in connection with three recent homicides and investigators say that they believe two of the victims may have been 'randomly targeted.'
NDP house leader laments 'agents of chaos' in precarious Parliament
NDP House leader Peter Julian says there's more his party wants to do in Parliament before the next election, but if the current dysfunction continues it will become a factor in how they vote on a confidence measure.
Former Colorado county clerk Tina Peters sentenced to 9 years for voting data scheme
A judge ripped into a Colorado county clerk for her crimes and lies before sentencing her Thursday to nine years behind bars for a data-breach scheme spawned from the rampant false claims about voting machine fraud in the 2020 presidential race.
Here's what the jury didn't hear in Jacob Hoggard's sexual assault trial
A northeastern Ontario jury has started deliberating in Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard's sexual assault trial, we can now tell you what they weren't allowed to hear.
Youth pleads guilty to manslaughter in death of P.E.I. teen Tyson MacDonald
A teen charged with the murder of another teen on Prince Edward Island last year has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter.
2 dead after fire rips through historic building in Old Montreal
At least two people are dead and others are injured after a fire ripped through a century-old building in Old Montreal early Friday morning, sources told Noovo Info.
A French judge in a shocking rape case allows the public to see some of the video evidence
A French judge in the trial of dozens of men accused of raping an unconscious woman whose now former husband had repeatedly drugged her so that he and others could assault her decided on Friday to allow the public to see some of the video recordings of the alleged rapes.
Scientists looked at images from space to see how fast Antarctica is turning green. Here's what they found
Parts of icy Antarctica are turning green with plant life at an alarming rate as the region is gripped by extreme heat events, according to new research, sparking concerns about the changing landscape on this vast continent.
Canadian family stuck in Lebanon anxiously awaits flight options amid Israeli strikes
A Canadian man who is trapped in Lebanon with his family says they are anxiously waiting for seats on a flight out of the country, as a barrage of Israeli airstrikes continues.