Increase in Calgary shootings unrelated to organized crime, police say

Calgary police say gun violence is increasing across the city, but the majority of it isn't tied to organized crime.

Police say there were a higher number of shootings this year than last at the same time — 91 versus 52. The total number of shootings last year was 96.

"Regardless of motivation, offenders involved in this type of crime have shown very little regard for the safety of Calgarians, with several recent incidents occurring in busy public areas," said Insp. Jodi Gach.

Police have recently laid more than 120 charges and seized 10 firearms as they address the rise in gun violence in the city this year.

The charges were laid against nine people, all previously known to the Calgary Police Service's organized crime unit, Gach said.

"Organized crime and gang-related violence is not increasing this year," said Gach. "We know that the number of shootings has increased, but it's increased overall in the city."

More than 75 per cent of shootings investigated this year include other motivations such as personal conflict, road rage, accidental discharge and non-gang-related drug shootings.

"People who historically wouldn't have been using guns have elevated their level of violence," said Gach.

The rising availability of guns and the reckless behaviour of organized crime is a large part of the problem, she said.

A handful of the charges announced Wednesday are being investigated in connection with a brazen public shooting  in Saddle Ridge in early April when 10 homes and three vehicles were hit with bullets.

'There's something going on in our community'

Coun. Courtney Walcott, who is also a member of the Calgary Police Commission, said laying charges against gun violence has been a major challenge in Calgary for a few years.

However, the Ward 8 representative believes CPS is on the right track with the work it's doing to address the issue.

"For gun violence, it's quite often tied up between, of course, illegal gun trafficking just as much as it is legal gun ownership," he said.

"When we think about the police, they're responding to all of this. And so, are we supporting them enough? Are we supporting our citizens enough when we actually look at the different supports that every individual Calgarian requires to feel like they belong in the city? That's the part that I think we always have more work to do."

Walcott said the uptick in gun violence that's not related to organized crime is a sign of the wear and tear on people over the past few years.

"I think there's something going on in our community that we do need to collectively address, which is our understanding of how we exist together, how we share space," he said.

"I think we've started to see that those walls kind of cracked through the exhaustion and fatigue that has happened over the last three years. And I'm not surprised to see certain types of incidents of these aggressions come up.… But I'm always shocked when it gets to this point."