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At a time when most Edmontonians were dealing with one of the coldest winters in a decade, Edmonton police were dealing with one of the most violent spells in recent memory.

January 2008 found authorities investigating numerous drive-by shootings and incidents of gang-related violence – while at the same time facing a wall of silence from possible witnesses and the public at large.

The matter came to a head when the Metro Edmonton Gang Unit called a press conference to calm citizen fears – and express the frustration of police efforts to quell a growing wave of gang-related violence.

Thirteen days into 2008, police were dealing with their first murder of the year: Randy George Lintner. The 46-year-old pipefitter died while trying to break up a fight in the parking lot of The Canadian Brewhouse at 12711 97 Street. Police later said though gang members were involved the fight, Lintner's murder didn't appear to have a criminal motive.

Three days later, on January 16th, police responded to reports of a shot fired at the popular Joey Tomato's restaurant at 11228 Jasper Avenue. About fifteen people in two groups were involved in a disturbance inside when the manager and an off-duty cook decided to step in. Both groups fled the scene leaving one man shot in the leg. The gang unit was brought in, police issued a warrant and a man later turned himself in.

Later on January 16th, a man living in a townhouse in the 300-block of Abbotsfield Road heard a knock on his door. Within seconds he also heard the blast of a shotgun. The shooter fled to a waiting getaway car. Police said the man was lucky – the shotgun pellets did a lot of damage – but the victim didn't take the opportunity of his second chance at life by telling investigators what happened.

He was in the right place with the right people – but at the wrong time. 25-year-old Westleigh Michael LaFleur was visiting cousins on January 22nd when three or four masked gunman burst into a Norwood home that neighbours called a drug house. Police say LaFleur's murder was the byproduct of a targeted home invasion and they appealed to those involved who didn't pull the trigger to come forward (so far, no takers).

Then came the shooting of Omar Househ. Charged in connection with the May 2007 execution-style murder of Ola Tinineh Moses, Househ answered his door at 13564 158 Avenue on January 24th and was shot multiple times in the upper body by a lone gunman. The Metro Edmonton Gang Unit took an active role in the investigation.

Two days later – in the early morning of January 26th – a house in the upscale Blackmud Creek neighbourhood of southwest Edmonton was hit by a drive-by shooting that first thought to be a case of mistaken address but later turned out to be a targeted gang-related shooting intended for a subject already under police scrutiny.

A resident of Byrne Crescent, near 9th Avenue and 108th Street and south of Ellerslie Road, called police around 5:30 a.m. after hearing a loud noise.

The homeowner later noticed three bullet holes in his front door – and three bullets lodged in his home's back wall.

No one was injured and the owner declined media invitations to make comment.

At first, a police spokesman said the gang unit was involved in the investigation but it wasn't immediately determined if the incident was a gang shooting.

News that police sources felt the shooters shot up the wrong house left terrified neighbhours wondering if anyone was safe from gang violence.

“You just don't think it's going to come to your neighbourhood, something like that, especially when it seems so random. Maybe we live in a bubble but I worry for my kids,” Maren Whitelock, who lived a few houses down, told the Edmonton Sun.

The family had moved to the Summerside neighbourhood because it seemed quiet. Carl Whitelock was shocked by news of a drive-by shooting in his newly-adopted neighbourhood.

“You don't think you would have anybody in this neighbourhood that would have people come by shooting at you,” he said.

Whitelock said he didn't know the family too well but indicated they have always been very nice and their kids play hockey in the neighbourhood.

Rick Sadler, who lived two doors away, described what he heard. “It woke me and my dog and my wife up. It was boom, boom, boom. It was really loud,” he told the Sun.

Another neighbour said he heard four gunshots and saw a car turning around the corner, adding it was too dark to see anything else.

Despite the gunplay, police said people shouldn't be worried.

“I don't think that citizens of Edmonton do need to worry that there are random drive-by shootings. Certainly in this case we will learn more as the situation unfolds,” the spokesman said, suggesting people keep an eye out on their neighbourhood and report any suspicious activity.

The spokesman also said investigators didn't know if the shooting was random.

However, police seemed to recant the remarks a week later when they said the incident wasn't random and the target was a 17-year-old connected to specific gang issues that had been under investigation since April 2007.

The Edmonton Sun checked the pulse of its readers in an online poll that questioned their home's comfort level.

The one-day voluntary poll allowed only one response per computer.

The increasing frequency of drive-by shootings in the city suggested that it was now a matter of not if but when police had to deal with another incidence of gunfire. It only took four days ...

... before four Edmonton north end houses had been shot at in in a week.

At about 11:00 p.m. on January 30th a duplex near 91st Street and 168th Avenue was struck five or six times by gunfire, with several shots going through the living room window.

"It shakes you up," a woman who lived beside the home told the Edmonton Sun. "You think, 'What now?' It's a quiet neighbourhood."

"It's scary. No place is safe," said another woman who lives across the street. "It hits too close to home. It just leaves you thinking, 'What if they had missed?'"

While none of the three occupants inside was hurt, one of them – who was well-known to police, took off before officers arrived. The gang unit was notified and police said they believed shooting was a targeted attack.

At about 3:00 a.m. February 1st police were called to a residence near 115th Street and 175th Avenue after reports of shots fired came in. For investigators it must have been a case of deja vu all over again.

"Well we're not saying it was a random act at all, but unfortunately someone rang his doorbell – he answered it – and unfortunately there was some people on the other side with a handgun and they started shooting at him," Insp. Jamie Ewatski told media at the scene.

"We don't what the relationship is – whether he knows these people or what his involvement is with anything at this time and point."

The man was shot a reported eight times in the abdomen but still managed to call 911 himself. He was taken to hospital where he was listed in serious but stable condition. One source indicated the victim had part of one hand shot off.

Officers could be seen covering evidence with tarps until the scene could be examined in daylight.

Police determined the shooting to be gang-related and the Metro Edmonton Gang Unit was called in to assist in the investigation.

The victim was described as in his mid-twenties and was known to police as an active gang member.

The shooting was a near-carbon copy of the one on January 24th about thirty blocks west when a man also answered his door only to be met with gunfire (see above). That man managed to call 911 himself as well.

Officers were then called to 166th Avenue and 69th Street after a report came in at 3:45 a.m. of a man seen firing a gun at a house.

The man was seen approaching the home, firing between a half to two dozen shots and getting into a car waiting nearby with a man behind the wheel. The car then took off.

The suspect was described as a white male in his twenties with curly blonde or light brown hair. The suspect vehicle was described as an older-model grey sedan with oval-shaped tail lights.

Evidence of the gunplay could be seen on the walls and doors. Several bullets also hit the house next door.

Two people were in the home at the time of the shooting, but neither was injured. They were later interviewed by investigators. Neighbours said a three-year-old baby lived in the house, which was well-known among area residents as a drug den.

Police believe the incident to be gang-related and cited the target of the shooting was a member of "The North-End Jamaicans."

Global Edmonton cameras were on hand when one young man came walking by. He was asked if he lived at the targeted house but denied the offer to speak on camera, waiving off a fellow reporter.

However, he found the invitation to speak with police hard to refuse. Officers later confirmed the man was a resident of the house but was not inside at the time of the shooting. It was reported the house belonged to Veronica and Sydney Pinnock.

In October 2006, 27-year-old Jacey Sydney Pinnock was one of three men gunned down in the Red Light Lounge Triple Murder.

Veronica Pinnock was interviewed by Global Edmonton immediately after the death of her son.

"He didn't deserve it. And I don't believe it was gang-related," Veronica said adamantly. "He was at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"It's been a drug house for years and the police know all about it," said a neighbour, one of several who reported the house and the licence plates of visiting cars to the Edmonton police Report-A-Drug House program.

At last word police believed none of the shooting incidents to be linked to each other.

Realising a crisis of several kinds was at hand, Edmonton police convened a press conference February 1st, 2008 at headquarters.

It was there in a fourth-floor conference room that Staff Sgt. Kevin Galvin, head of the service's Co-ordinated Crime Unit, faced many of the same reporters he addressed three months earlier at a media awareness session.

In November 2007, Galvin predicted a looming gang turf war was about to erupt. What he didn't forecast was the deafening silence from the community when it did.

"What I find really interesting here is that no one else from the community ever calls," Galvin said, clearly perplexed by the public's apparent lack of reaction to four drive-by shootings in a week.

"Everyone in the community where these things are occurring has seen suspicious activities. They know that certain houses in their communities just don't make sense, the people that are living there have money when they really shouldn't have.

"I have not received one Crime Stoppers tip from the community on any of the recent drive-by shootings," Galvin said, adding somewhat sarcastically: "I don't expect gang members and gang associates to call us."

Galvin noted that the Supreme Court of Canada has guaranteed complete anonymity to anyone who comes forward to Crime Stoppers with a tip.

"The true ability to deal with this is a community response," Galvin said.

The 21-year Edmonton police veteran said that all the victims of the recent shootings were involved in crime. Galvin didn't reveal specific motives but said "intimidation crimes are a well-known commodity of gangs" and are often motivated by business, reputation or ego – but that doesn't mean ordinary citizens aren't affected.

"We don't want citizens of Edmonton to fear for their safety in their homes," Galvin said.

"These acts are very deliberate and specifically targeted to individuals associated with gang activity. Still, the community must be aware that these violent acts and the people who commit these acts marginalize the safety and security of our communities and our city."

Galvin said victims of gang-related crimes often do not want to cooperate with police and by law they are not required to do so.

“By accessing Crime Stoppers and reporting all suspicious activity to police we send a message that gang activity is not tolerated, explains Galvin. “Information received from the public greatly increases our opportunity to solve crimes.”

Despite the number of shootings in the last two months, Galvin insisted there has not been a real increase in gang-related violence in Edmonton. He called the recent violence a part of the "ebb and flow" of gang activity.

"The gang wars of 1999 here in Edmonton is what set this trend and we've been dealing with this for close to 10 years."

"In spite of recent events, there's been no increase of gang violence in Edmonton. This is not new."

But while police pointed to figures that showed increased gang arrests, the recent shootings seemed to indicate overall gang activity remains unaffected.

In 2007 the metro Edmonton gang unit brought forward 814 new charges against 288 gang members or associates. In 2006 there were 636 charges laid, up from 594 in 2005.

Police said their investigations are made difficult by new technologies being used by gangs, the complexity of dealing with organised crime under current legislation, and the easy mobility of gangs, Galvin said. He noted some gang members have even received military training.

Last year, Vancouver saw over twenty killed in gang-related shootings, with many openly shot on city streets or in restaurants. Galvin said it would be hard to predict whether Edmonton would experience similar, highly public levels of gang violence.

"I can say that this activity does marginalize the state of the safety and security of our community," he said.

"Does that mean that everyone is in danger? No. Is their safety at risk? Yes. In some circumstances it is at risk. As long as the community tolerates this type of behaviour, we're all at risk."

Police reminded those with information about gang activity to call the unit at 414-GANG (4264), the Report-A-Drug House hotline at 426-8229 (or online), the police non-emergency line at 423-4567, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or online at www.tipsubmit.com - a secure tip submission web site. Crimes in progress can be called in to 911.

Always pleased to reiterate his predictions, criminologist Bill Pitt suggested that with gang violence the worst was yet to come.

"My intelligence and my research has indicated that Edmonton, Calgary and the province of Alberta is the go-to province," said Pitt.

"This is the place they want to be and this is where they're going to set up."

Those grappling with the current situation said some people think the problem of violence is insurmountable when linked to gangs.

"With a gang problem, where do you start?" Jana Grekul, a criminologist who works with Community Solutions to Gang Violence, asked an Edmonton Journal reporter when interviwed.

"When you make it that big, people are intimidated by it. It's a community-based problem. It's important that people speak out."

There were those who said police could do better by calling it a drug problem, including Len Untereiner, president of Spirit Keeper Youth Society and a former gang member himself.

"Saying it's gang-related and drug-related are exactly the same thing," he said.

"It's drug-related and there are many youth that are involved. A youth problem is a community problem and we have a youth problem in Edmonton."

Untereiner echoed Staff Sgt. Galvin's earlier words when he told the Journal Edmonton's booming economy has made drug trading a profitable industry. As a result, the city's gangs have grown, are loosely organised and show signs of co-operation.

One dealer Untereiner spoke of was part of three separate gangs, in that he was getting his drugs from three different suppliers. He said the recent shootings were not geographic turf wars but disputes between dealers who had stepped on someone's market share or enforcement for debts.

Galvin had stated Alberta was the home of two dozen organised crime groups who have found enough room in an illicit economy to co-exist and co-operate peacefully.

But while the police officer said he was frustrated by an citizen unwillingness to help solve recent shootings, Sandy Erickson, project manager for Community Solutions to Gang Violence, told the Journal that's not the public's job.

"I think this is a very narrow view of what the role of the community is, when the public hears about shots being fired into a home it's sort of unreal and people get really fearful," said Erickson.

She said if police really want to engage the public in a useful way they should put more resources towards prevention with things like after-school programs and sporting activities for young people at risk of joining gangs.

According to Galvin, "Sex, drugs and rock and roll," is the lure, with high school dial-a-dopers and gang-wannabes treated to lavish parties at downtown penthouses and mountain retreats as reward for good criminal behaviour.

In contract, Erickson's group represents a wide cross-section of community organisations, including the YMCA, Big Brothers Big Sisters and Native Counselling Services of Alberta – less than attractive as alternatives to the MTV lifestyle offered by gangs.

While perhaps afraid to talk to police, the average Edmonton Sun reader didn't hesitate when answering an online poll.

The one-day voluntary poll allowed only one response per computer.

The frequency and close proximity of the many shootings in north Edmonton during January and February left many confused ...

... including a CTV Edmonton graphic artist.

Perhaps confounded by the cookie-cutter architecture of the city's newer neighbourhoods, media cameramen treated viewers to shots of houses seemingly just because they had a police car or two in front of them, whether they were a crime scene or not.

deadmonton 2008 - other police matters - guns and gangs grip mid-winter edmonton