A violent shooting in North Battleford last weekend has the community buzzing with questions.
Information from the RCMP indicates a 24-year-old was critically injured when as many as five shots were fired from a vehicle either at the victim or the house on 104th Street where he was staying Saturday morning. By Sunday afternoon the victim, who is from North Battleford but does not live at the location where the shooting took place, was conscious and co-operating with authorities.
No word of arrest has yet been received from the RCMP, although S/Sgt. Phil Wilson did address the issue with North Battleford city council Monday. When Councillor Ryan Bater raised concerns on behalf of the community, Wilson admitted there is ongoing gang activity in the Battlefords, but said police cannot say whether this incident was gang related or not.
He described the incident as an act of violence involving people who have a particular lifestyle.
Obviously it is a lifestyle most citizens of the community cannot relate to. A drive by shooting at 10 a.m. seems more like something you'd read about in an action novel, not your local newspaper.
To tolerate this type of activity is unconscionable, but we are still left scratching our heads over what to do about it. Do we now have to wait in fear for someone on our street to develop a certain "lifestyle" that will put us all in danger of being popped during an altercation?
Let's hope that isn't the case, and those with information about what happened last weekend will come forward to police and when the police have a clear idea of what did happen they make that information public.
Disclosure of the facts, to the extent that can be accomplished without jeopardizing the integrity of the justice system, would go a long way toward providing closure and easing the minds of individuals in that neighbourhood and throughout the Battlefords.
Silence will only fuel the culture of wild speculation, rumour and fear mongering such an occurrence naturally breeds.
