EDMONTON—Authorities have reopened West Edmonton Mall (WEM) after it was locked down for hours on Aug. 21 following reports of a shooting outside the mega mall.
“We believe this was a targeted incident between two groups,” said Chief Derko.
He said four males left the mall and went to their vehicle. A second vehicle, described as a white SUV approached, which the chief said seemed to be waiting for the other individuals. An “exchange of gunfire” resulted.
“Two of the males collapsed on the pavement with serious injuries and the two others fled into the mall, went into the wild west shooting range with gunshot wounds, while the other fled through the mall, and we do not believe that individual sustained any injuries,” said the police chief.
He said police could not release any details on the ages of the victims who are still receiving medical intervention. He indicated that from the information provided to him, the shooting hit someone in the arm, in the side of the stomach, and in the back of the leg.
The injuries were “serious, but non-life threatening,” he added.
EPS has not located the fourth male or the SUV occupant but said they had recovered the vehicle involved in the shooting. Police officers also recovered a handgun from inside the mall believed to belong to one of the individuals involved in the shooting.
Chief Derko said the police were concerned about “misinformation circulating,” including reports that multiple people had died in the incident, which he stated was “thankfully” not the case. At the time of the lockdown, there were over 200 people in the mall’s movie theatre, and were safely evacuated by police.
Police also said they did not think the incident was related to Mexican drug cartels operating in Edmonton but had not ruled out whether the shooting was related to riots that erupted over the weekend at a Soccer for Peace event that resulted in riot police having to break up two groups from Eritrea in the city’s north side.
Chief Derko indicated that police gang suppression teams are involved in the investigations.
The EPS Tactical Unit responded to the call and systematically cleared and checked the mall before the lockdown was lifted.
Chief Derko said that although the city is “seeing more and more violence,” incidents like this one are still “very isolated and rare,” and if they do happen, he advised citizens to “be prepared to get to a safe place.”
One user on platform X, formerly known as Twitter, posted a video of the events as WEM went into lockdown. A loud siren can be heard and a male voice over the loudspeaker says, “Attention, West Edmonton Mall is in lockdown.” Stores can be seen with their gates closed while scattered shoppers are being urged out by uniformed police and can be seen running down the mall.
The man who posted the video said he had fled the mall with his children via the nearest exit and made it home safely.
WEM is 5.3 million square feet, with more than 800 stores and two hotels, it’s visited by 30.8 million people a year on average. It also has its own security force including K9 dogs. The mall conducts lockdown drills every three months, according to its website, but this event was not a drill.
