Neighbour recalls night two Edmonton police officers were killed outside her door
A woman who lives across from the apartment where a 16-year-old shot and killed two Edmonton police constables has multiple bullet holes in her door, with a couple piercing her doorframe.
On Monday, Darlene Blyan showed CTV News Edmonton at least six bullet holes in her doorway, remnants from last Thursday's shooting where Constables Brett Ryan and Travis Jordan were killed.
She recalled waking up after midnight to loud noises and the feeling her apartment was shaking.
"I thought my pictures were coming off my walls," Blyan described. "Then I thought someone was kicking my door.
"Then I heard, ‘oh, oh my god, oh my god, about four or five times,’" she added.
The Edmonton Police Service says Ryan and Jordan were dispatched after reports of a domestic dispute. There was no indication a weapon was inside the apartment they responded to, nor that the situation could become violent.
The pair of officers met the 16-year-old's mother outside the Inglewood complex. When Ryan and Jordan were outside the suite, police say they were "immediately incapacitated."
The pair of Edmonton Police Service officers killed on Thursday, March 16, 2023 (Source: EPS).
After what Blyan later learned was a shooting, police officers knocked on her door and instructed her to stay inside her suite.
Thirty minutes later, investigators informed her she would have to leave her home for the next several days as the area was an active crime scene. She was put up in a hotel and just returned home Sunday afternoon.
Blyan, who has lived in the building for three years, said she knew the mother of the teen shooter, who remains in hospital.
According to police, the mother was shot by her son during a struggle for the firearm he used to shoot the pair of officers.
"We would talk in the laundry room and talked about our life," Blyan said. "We would sit on the steps and have a smoke and just talk about everything.
One bouquet of flowers stands outside the doors of the Inglewood apartment complex where last Thursday two police constables were fatally shot (CTV News Edmonton).
"She was easy to talk to," Blyan added. "She's a nice woman."
Since returning, Blyan told CTV News Edmonton she couldn't stop thinking about how she decided to stay in bed that fateful night.
"Good thing I didn't look through the peephole," she said as she pointed to the bullet hole below it.
A regimental funeral and procession for Ryan and Jordan has been scheduled for Monday, March 27.
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Nahreman Issa
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Senate expenses climbed to $7.2 million in 2023, up nearly 30%
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
Pedestrian, baby injured after stroller struck and dragged by vehicle in Squamish, B.C.
Police say a baby and a pedestrian suffered non-life-threatening injuries after a vehicle struck a baby stroller and dragged it for two blocks before stopping in Squamish, B.C.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Demonstrators kicked out of Ontario legislature for disruption after failed keffiyeh vote
A group of demonstrators were kicked out of the legislature after a second NDP motion calling for unanimous consent to reverse a ban on the keffiyeh failed to pass.
RCMP uncovers alleged plot by 2 Montreal men to illegally sell drones, equipment to Libya
The RCMP says it has uncovered a plot by two men in Montreal to sell Chinese drones and military equipment to Libya illegally.
Government agrees to US$138.7M settlement over FBI's botching of Larry Nassar assault allegations
The U.S. Justice Department announced a US$138.7 million settlement Tuesday with more than 100 people who accused the FBI of grossly mishandling allegations of sexual assault against Larry Nassar in 2015 and 2016, a critical time gap that allowed the sports doctor to continue to prey on victims before his arrest.
BREAKING Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko won't play in Game 2
The Vancouver Canucks will be without all-star goalie Thatcher Demko when they face the Nashville Predators in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
Man wanted in connection with deadly shooting in Toronto tops list of most wanted fugitives in Canada
A 35-year-old man wanted in connection with the murder of Toronto resident 29-year-old Sharmar Powell-Flowers nine months ago has topped the list of the BOLO program’s 25 most wanted fugitives across Canada, police announced Tuesday.
Doctors ask Liberal government to reconsider capital gains tax change
The Canadian Medical Association is asking the federal government to reconsider its proposed changes to capital gains taxation, arguing it will affect doctors' retirement savings.