Homicide spree
The deaths began Wednesday when an Edmonton real estate agent found two bodies in a home in Southeast Edmonton, identified as 37-year-old Ahmed Qureshi and Suzanne Marie Tran, 27; the Edmonton Medical Examiner said that both victims died of gunshot wounds.
The remaining three deaths occurred over this weekend. At 2:20 a.m. on Sunday, a man in his 30s was found badly wounded at the city’s Belvedere LRT Station and died later in hospital. Police said his body had suffered “trauma” but did not say how he was killed.
His name has not been released.
Only some 20 minutes after that man was found there was a shooting at the Tribute Lounge on Whyte Avenue and another man in his 30s was wounded and died in hospital. One other man sustained injuries that were non-life threatening. Names in this shooting have also not been released.
The fifth and final death was of yet another man in his 30s who was found dead Sunday afternoon in a suite at the Travelodge Edmonton East. Police have not revealed his name, either, nor how he died. These five homicides bring the total homicides this year in Edmonton to 11.
Staff Sgt. Bill Clark with Edmonton’s homicide unit said they are being stretched thin investigating so many deaths in such a short span and that they “actually had to call in resources from other areas to help out.”
But he does believe the perpetrators will be brought to justice. “We’re getting some really good information and some good leads,” Sgt. Clark said. “It’s just a matter of time before we have some arrests.”
