The father of an Edmonton man who was stabbed to death in the parking lot of a school Friday night says he was looking forward to spending time with his son, instead he woke up to find out his son had been murdered.

Curtis Todd Osterlund, 39, died in hospital Friday night after he was found collapsed over a bicycle rack in a parking lot between Londonderry Junior High School and M.E. Lazerte High School just after 10 p.m.

"I talked with him [at] about 5 o'clock yesterday," said Osterlund's father Gerald Osterlund. "He said he would see me today, next call I got was 3:30 this morning from the detective."

Several witnesses rushed to help Osterlund after he was found in the parking lot Friday evening with serious stab wounds.

"He looked dead to me," said Fiqi. "I asked one of the witnesses there, whether he was alive or not and he was like 'yea he is alive' but he looked like he was dead to me."

Emergency crews were called to the scene shortly after witnesses found Osterlund.

He was taken into an ambulance where witnesses saw paramedics perform CPR on him before transporting him to the Royal Alexandra Hospital.

"He was breathing, semi-conscious and appeared to need some serious medical attention," said Insp. Joel Whittaker.

Osterlund was rushed to hospital with serious stab wounds, but succumbed to his injuries a short time later.

His father believes he happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"My opinion, it was a random attack," said Osterlund. "There is definitely a group of hoodlums that live around this area."

Police say it is too early to determine whether it was a random attack, but investigators say they are looking for three teenage suspects who were seen fleeing from the area shortly after the stabbing.

"There have been a lot of robberies, mugging-type incidents, in this area specifically in the last several months," said Detective Bill Clark.

Investigators spent the evening interviewing witnesses and have now released the description of three teenage suspects.

The first two are described as:

  • Native males
  • 16 to 18-years-old
  • 5'6" to 5'9" tall
  • With skinny builds

One of the males was seen wearing a short-sleeved red shirt with baseball hat and the other was wearing a short-sleeved white shirt.

The third suspect is described as:

  • Native female
  • 16 to 18-years-old
  • Heavy-set build
  • Shoulder length wavy brown hair

The female was seen wearing light coloured clothing.

Osterlund's father says if it is the teenagers who are responsible for his son's death, he hopes they can be found and helped.

"Punishing someone doesn't help me, it doesn't bring back my son," said Osterlund. "The world out there is not interested in how much you hate, they are interested in how much you can love."

"If anyone saw people matching the suspects' descriptions, they need to share that information with us," said homicide detective Bill Clark.

"We are also looking for an edged weapon and we ask people to check their yards. If they find something suspicious, call police and don't touch it."

Police ask anyone with information about the incident or the whereabouts of the suspects to call them at 780-423-4567 or anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.