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A thousand rounds

Keen-eyed cops spotted a drug deal going down in a car near Westmount Mall on March 5th, 2007 and arrested three males.

After questioning the trio, officers with the Metro Edmonton Gang Unit along with the EPS Drug section prepared a pair of search warrants for two houses.

Police entered a home near 112th Avenue and 93rd Street at 2:00 March 6th and found $25,000 cash, over 2 kg of cocaine, nearly 500 tablets of ecstacy, more than 25 grams of methamphetamine, half a kg of marijuana, nearly 50 tablets of MS contin, and over 100 tablets of oxi-contin.

At a second home near 109th Avenue and 106th Street police found a handgun, a rifle and more than one-thousand rounds of ammunition.

27-year-old Eric Leathers was charged with 11 counts possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking and 2 counts possession of the proceeds of crime.

31-year-old Miguel Romero was charged with 3 counts of possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking.

20-year-old Zachary Jerome-Legault was charged with 3 counts of possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking and 3 counts of breach of recogninzance.

29-year-old Justin Dale Kovesy has been charged with possession of a controlled substance and 12 firearms-related offences.

24-year-old Michelle Marie Erickson has been charged with 12 firearms-related offences.

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Man shot outside troubled bar

Gangs and guns was the tune played at a southside karaoke bar at about 3:00 a.m. on the morning of March 15th, 2007. And for police it was deja vu all over again at the Laser Express Karaoke club at 3432 99 Street.

Police received frantic cellphone calls after a 23-year-old man was the target of several shots fired outside the troubled club. Witnesses reported seeing a dark import car – possibly a Honda – speeding away.

“The victim had been in the karaoke bar and he was walking to his car when it happened,” a police spokesman said.

The man was rushed by EMS to University of Alberta Hospital where he was listed in stable condition suffering from one or two gunshot wounds.

Police didn't saying where the bullets struck the man since that information might be needed for the investigation.

“Only the suspect would know that,” the spokesman said. However, CTV Edmonton reported a bullet entered and exited the man's torso.

The victim was known to police and they believe the incident to be gang-related. "Neither the victim nor the witnesses are being particularly co-operative,” the spokesman added.

Police taped off a black four-door Acura TSX in the parking lot of the club. Its driver's side door was wide open and a pile of crumpled clothing lay in front of the car.

Three bullet holes could be seen in the front window of The Boss Taste of Asian Restaurant, also at the strip mall. Arriving shop owners had to make their way around all-too-familiar police tape to open their doors.

On June 20th, 2006 at about 12:45 a.m. two men walked into the club, gunfire erupted and what was described as "a hail of bullets" hit 19-year-old Shawn Michael Yalowica inside the doorway.

Patrons dove for cover as bullets shattered the front windows of the club while a gunman and his accomplice fled in a waiting car. No one has been arrested for Yalowica's murder.

Police considered the incident to be gang-related. Yalowica was not a gang member but was hanging out with people who had gang ties.

Investigators were asking anyone with information about either shooting to contact police.

The Public Safety Compliance Team, a task force addressing bar violence, knew the Laser Express Karaoke location well, as police chief Mike Boyd pointed out in comments to the media.

"It already has been looked at. I've been part of these action committee meetings with the mayor and the city manager – that's one of the things we've already been looking at and certainly incidents of this nature are specifically what we intended."

"There's provision built into the bylaw to make some of these places, perhaps, install metal detectors. We may have to ensure a heightened level of security by hiring more people to do – as they say – bouncer's work."

Don Hutchings, owner of the nearby Foam King outlet, told the Edmonton Sun “I'd like to see the place closed down, to be honest.”

After the Yalowica slaying it was announced that cameras were to be installed outside the Laser Express bar. Police believed there could be surveillance video from another strip mall business that would help them in their investigation.

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Man crushed under own van

A 74-year-old man was apparently crushed to death by his own van after trying to free it from a slushy alley.

At around 6:50 p.m. on March 16th, 2007 neighbours found the man pinned under his maroon, full-sized GMC van in the alley behind his house near 92B Avenue and 69th Street.

Twenty minutes earlier his wife had brought him a shovel and she then returned to the house.

Rod Bain rushed to the van when a friend noticed someone pinned beneath it. He found the driver's side door open and the man, chest down, trapped under the vehicle.

Bain told the Edmonton Sun the man's head was near the passenger side front tire and he noted an abrasion on his face.

"It looked like he'd been dragged," said Bain. "[A leg was] wrapped up in the undercarriage of the driver's side."

Bain said he couldn't recall whether he then put the van's transmission in park from drive. Believing he would only drag the man further by trying to drive the van off him, he got help from a neighbour.

The neighbour held the man in place while Bain backed up several feet. Emergency crews pronounced the man dead at the scene. The man's body was covered by a tarp where he lay in front of his van.

Staff Sgt. Brad Manz said no one witnessed the accident.

"Early indications would lead us to believe that perhaps he was run over by his own vehicle," Manz said.

"It may have gotten stuck in the alley or something of that nature, and perhaps he tried to get the vehicle unstuck while the vehicle was still in gear, resulting in the vehicle moving ahead and perhaps running him over."

Manz said the police traffic section would be investigating the man's death, which would include a mechanical inspection of the van.

Bain said the man, who lived a few doors down, was quite friendly.

"A really nice old guy," Bain told the Sun, adding the man could often be found working on his vehicles or around the yard.

On March 23rd, 2007 the medical examiner's identified the man as 74-year-old Lawrence Mazurek. It was determined he died from being hit in the head and foul play was not suspected.

A funeral for the man was held the same day, and mourners heard Mazurek was a well-liked man who had touched many people during his life in Edmonton.

The incident was similar to one that occured September 23rd, 2006.

The body of 58-year-old Bernard Magnan was found pinned underneath his own truck in a ditch on the north side of 130 Avenue west of Meridian Street.

Homicide detectives judged Magnan's death to be non-criminal but his family felt otherwise.

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Body found near creek

Updated May 2007

Receding snow in an Edmonton nature area revealed the body of a dead man on March 18th, 2007.

Several people walking their dogs at about 2:45 p.m. along Whitemud Creek, about a kilometre south of the Snow Valley ski facility, came across a body partially buried in the snow.

Police were called to the scene and Acting Sgt. Curtis Rind said the man appeared to be a transient in his fifties.

Seven weeks after the man was found, authorities still didn't know who he was and appealed to the public for help.

On May 3rd, 2007 the Chief Medical Examiner of Alberta made the unusual move of releasing a photograph of the man » full details »

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A gathering of Angels

The last weekend of March 2007 had some Albertans seeing red as Angels appeared in the province's two largest cities.

As the American-based Guardian Angels graduated their first training class in Calgary and held an organisational meeting in Edmonton, two police chiefs and one mayor were less than welcoming the news of their arrival.

The citizen volunteer street patrol group had been eyeing chapters in both cities for some time. Now that they're up and running, many residents were asking what the Guardian Angels are all about and what their impact on local crime might be » full details »

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Body found on Manning Drive

Edmonton police closed off a section of Manning Drive northbound after responding to a call that a man's body had been found just north of 167th Avenue.

The discovery was made just before 2:00 p.m. on March 25th, 2007 by two men out walking who noticed the body lying several metres west of the roadway.

Homicide detectives were called in but it was soon determined the man's death was non-criminal in nature. However, the medical examiner was to determine the exact cause of death, police said.

Officers also checked a small abandoned shed on an adjacent property.

Officials from the medical examiner's office removed the body several hours after it was found but they had difficulty as a barbed-wire fence separated the victim from the road.

At last word, police were in the process of identifying the dead man and notifying his next of kin.

Manning Drive was re-opened after about an hour-and-a-half.

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POLICE LINE: DO NOT CROSS

Wanted: transit station muggers

A mugging at the West Edmonton Mall Transit station has prompted police to ask for public assistance in locating three males.

At about 6:15 p.m. on March 8th, 2007 three male youths approached a fourth young male and offered to sell him a bus pass. When the young man declined, two suspects assaulted him, while the third kept watch. A silver necklace was taken from the victim before the suspects fled on foot. The victim was treated for injuries to his face.

Police have released images from the transit station's security cameras.

The suspects are described as native males, aged 13 to 17, and are known to frequent the West Edmonton Mall Transit Station.

Those with information are asked to contact Edmonton police at 423-4567, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or online at www.tipsubmit.com - a secure tip submission web site.

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Wanted: Arthur Brown

Arthur Brown has been deemed a significant risk to reoffend.

He was freed on statutory release January 12th, 2007 and was to maintain residency at a city community correctional facility. However, two weeks later he had fled.

National Parole Board hearings deemed Brown a significant risk to the community if not monitored. His lengthy criminal record includes robbery, forcible confinement and uttering threats.

Brown is 6-feet 2-inches, 210 lbs, and has multiple tattoos, including one on his right ring finger, upper back, shoulders and right forearm.

He was said to have a propensity for violence and should not be approached.

Those with information about Brown are asked to contact Edmonton police at 423-4567, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or online at www.tipsubmit.com - a secure tip submission web site.

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Wanted: Garrret Liam Wilde

The Edmonton police Tactical Response for Auto Theft Prevention (TRAP) team is on the lookout for car thief Garrret Liam Wilde.

18-year-old Wilde, born February 14th, 1989, has an outstanding Canada-wide warrant for his arrest for suspension of his community supervision.

Wilde is about 5-feet 7-inches, 120 lbs and has blue eyes.

Wilde is known to hang out in south Edmonton, and in the Capilano, Gold Bar neighbourhoods.

Those with information are asked to contact Edmonton police at 423-4567, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or online at www.tipsubmit.com - a secure tip submission web site.

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Wanted: Tommie-Rae Paul Marsh

Tommie-Rae Paul Marsh, an associate of the North End Jamaicans criminal network, is wanted by the Metro Edmonton Gang Unit.

Marsh is sought on an Alberta-wide warrrant for a charge of trafficking in a controlled substance dating back to October 17th, 2006.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call the Edmonton police Gang Unit at 780-414-4264.

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Wanted: Tri Van Tran

Edmonton police are asking for the public's assistance in locating Tri Van Tran.

Tran is wanted on a Canada-wide warrant. However, police did not indicate the nature of the offence he is being sought for.

Tran's last home address was an apartment near 106th Street and 106th Avenue in central Edmonton.

He was described as about 5-feet 5-inches and 149 lbs.

Those with information are asked to contact Edmonton police at 423-4567, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or online at www.tipsubmit.com - a secure tip submission web site.

All the information presented on this page has been compiled from published media reports and should not be interpreted as having legal bearing or other prejudice against the individuals named on this web site. Some information may have been released under the authority of the FOIP Act, RSA 2000, C. F-25. and/or Section 8(2)(m) of the Federal Privacy Act.

Members of the public are advised that the intent of this web site is to enable citizens to take suitable precautionary measures and is NOT intended to encourage people to engage in any form of vigilante action. Continued investigation and review can result in additional information or clarification not disclosed to the public. Case status subject to change without notice.

deadmonton 2007 - march crime report