Security guard dead after fight in downtown Edmonton parkade: police

A security guard is dead after an altercation in a downtown parkade, the Edmonton Police Service has confirmed.

Police were called to a report of a fight involving the guard and a man at the parkade at 101 Street and 102 Avenue around 5:50 a.m. on Tuesday.

Officers found the gravely injured guard once they arrived at the scene.

He was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

An autopsy has been scheduled for Thursday at 9 a.m.

The other man involved in the fight is still at large.

Homicide detectives have taken over the case.

Anyone with information is asked to call EPS at 780-423-4567 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

Security company GardaWorld has confirmed the victim is one of their employees.

"We are deeply saddened by recent events involving one of our team members in Edmonton," a spokesperson said in an email to CTV News Edmonton. "While we cannot comment on an open police investigation, we are working closely with law enforcement in support of their efforts related to this incident.

"Our focus remains on supporting our people, our teams and all loved ones impacted."

Garda would not say whether or not the man was working alone when the fight broke out.

One criminologist says the company will likely be reexamining their policies after the incident.

"I think there's a lesson there, perhaps for the security company, in terms of the deployment of lone individuals who are oftentimes unarmed in terms of the kinds of weapons that a police officer might have at their disposal," Temitope Oriola of the University of Alberta told CTV News Edmonton on Wednesday.

"It's also vital to consider that typically, the security staff would not have that level of training… of policing that the average police officer has, that puts them at considerable disadvantage when you have an altercation."

Oriola says in order to see a reduction in violent crime, more social support is needed to prevent people with mental health challenges, addictions issues, or criminal backgrounds from falling through the cracks.

"What are the life circumstances of this individual and the cohorts of individuals to which that person belongs, and how do we ensure that we put an end to that source?"

"We've got to put in place measures to ensure that those individuals do not get lost in society, because they reappear while perpetrating episodes of criminal activities."

Edmonton's mayor calls the situation tragic.

"We are grappling with a very serious increase in violence in our city, whether it's related to guns, whether it's related to some of the social disorder that we are seeing in our communities," Amarjeet Sohi told reporters on Wednesday morning.

"We are funding our police service, very appropriately. We increased the funding last year significantly. We are creating other opportunities as well for people to connect to services and programs. But this is an ongoing concern that requires collaboration and cooperation of everyone."

With files from CTV News Edmonton's David Ewasuk