At least two people, including an Indian-origin man, died in a shooting incident in Canada’s south Edmonton on Monday (April 8, 2024).
The Indian-origin national was identified as Buta Singh Gill.
He was the owner of Edmonton-based Gill Built Homes.
“There are no immediate concerns for public safety at this time and responding officers have secured the scene. EPS homicide investigators will be leading this investigation,” an EPS spokesperson CTV News in an email to media at 1:24 p.m.
Edmonton Police said in a statement: “EMS responded and determined two males, a 49-year-old and a 57-year-old were deceased, and a 51-year-old male was seriously injured.”
“EPS Homicide Section has since taken over the investigation. Police are not looking for any suspects,” the statement said.
A woman named Lindsay Hilton claimed she witnessed the shooting while driving.
“The man in the construction vest had his gun out, pointed at the car and shot once into the driver’s side window, then I went right around the corner because I didn’t know what was going to happen,” she told CTV News Edmonton. “I heard two more gunshots following.”
Hilton says she pulled over and called 911, adding she feels traumatised by the situation.
“I have had moments of breaking down like this into tears because it’s just something I think that you just don’t expect to see in broad daylight,” she said.
“It just looked like another interaction of guys stopping to talk at the construction site, so when I saw him pull that gun and shoot, it just took me a minute even to put together what happened.”
Another witness, Abby Sieban told CTV News Edmonton she was walking with her children in the stroller when she heard gunshots.
“We were approaching the construction site and we kind of heard probably three or four shots. I thought it was a nail gun at first because it’s a construction site,” Sieban said.
Former Edmonton city councillor and former EPS member Mohinder Banga described the Indian-origin deceased man as a ‘nice person’.
“He was such a nice person, and he would jump in to help people whenever they needed help and without looking for anything in return. That was his quality,” he said.
“Obviously, you can see all the people here, they’re all well-wishers and the community is in shock right now.”