ATHABASCA – Athabasca RCMP responded to the fourth shooting in six months at the Jean Baptiste Gambler First Nations Reserve, just north of Calling Lake, Feb. 6.
The shooting took place at approximately 9:30 p.m. and the victim was transported to the Athabasca Healthcare Centre then on to an Edmonton hospital, with non-life-threatening injuries, said Staff Sgt. Paul Gilligan in an interview last week.
“An individual was shot outside in the woods, in the thigh, with a shotgun and it is still under investigation,” he said.
This shooting is actually the third in the community of just over 250 people, in the first six weeks of 2021, as RCMP responded to reports of separate shootings Jan. 2 and Jan. 7, both of which resulted in injuries to those who were targeted.
On Jan. 2, three suspects entered a home and discharged a firearm at an individual, who was taken to hospital in stable condition and later released with only superficial wounds.
In a second incident on Jan. 7, an individual in a vehicle parked in a driveway was shot, and suspects fled on foot and are yet to be identified, said Gilligan. Police Dog Services were utilized at the time, but were unable to find the culprits.
On Sept. 19, 2020, the RCMP's Major Crimes Unit was called in to investigate a suspicious death at the Jean Baptiste Gambler First Nations Reserve in the early morning hours of Sept. 19.
Athabasca RCMP were called to a residence on the reserve, about eight kilometres north of the Hamlet of Calling Lake in the M.D. of Opportunity, at approximately 5:18 a.m., after a call for assistance that reported a man had been injured.
EMS and RCMP responded to the call, but arrived to find the 29-year-old man deceased on the scene.
No one has been charged in any of the four shootings.
RCMP Weekly
The shooting was one of 68 calls to come into the detachment last week.
Gilligan reported there was also one sexual assault, two assaults, and one drug trafficking charge.
Members also caught one impaired driver and delivered one roadside suspension. There were nine motor vehicle collisions involving damage to property.
Two fraud complaints also came in.
There were 11 calls regarding suspicious people and vehicles throughout the detachment area.
Members also performed three well-being checks, tracked down two 911 hang-ups, and responded to six calls to assist the general public.
