EDMONTON - Two groups exchanged gunfire outside of West Edmonton Mall on Monday night, said Edmonton Police, in what was a targeted event that left three people injured.
"Who those groups are and their motivations behind the shooting are still not clear. However, we do not believe there's any risk to the community at this time," said Edmonton Police Service (EPS) acting chief Darren Derko.
At around 7:40 p.m. on Monday night, EPS responded to a call of a shooting at West Edmonton Mall. Four men left the mall and went to their vehicle, when a white-coloured SUV approached them, resulting in an exchange of gunfire.
Two of the men collapsed on the pavement with serious but non-life-threatening injuries while two others fled into the mall. One man went into the Wild West Shooting Range with gunshot wounds, while the other fled through the mall.
"We do not believe that individual sustained any injuries and at this time the fourth male has not been located nor have the occupants of the white SUV," said Derko.
EPS said the gunshot wounds were in the arm, side of the stomach and leg.
EPS believe they have found the white SUV involved in the shooting, but are still in the early stages of the investigation into the incident. EPS has not determined who the suspects were in the white SUV.
As a result of the incident the mall went into lockdown, as there was an "imminent concern for public safety" and the EPS Tactical Unit was deployed to sweep the building, Derko said.
A handgun from the event was recovered during the sweep.
It is too early in the investigation to say if the event is part of an ongoing feud or if the violence is going to continue, said Derko.
"It's always concerning when something to this level happens, when they're targeted, because the fear is that the retribution is going to happen," Derko said.
"But that's something that we're working on, and hopefully we can make some arrests before that happens."
The acting chief said there was a lot of misinformation circulating online during the event that indicated people had lost their lives at the mall, but those claims were luckily false.
"We are incredibly lucky that nobody lost their lives yesterday that no innocent people were injured and that police were able to respond to now gather evidence," Derko said.
"I want to remind citizens to obtain their news from professional and legitimate media sources or from our website and social media pages directly. This will help limit the misinformation that gets out there."
