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WARNING

Arfan Ul Haq, 30, died of multiple gunshot wounds on September 21st, 2008.

Haq was Edmonton's twentieth homicide victim of the year.

Case status is open and active.

The early morning of Sunday, September 21st, 2008 had Edmonton police and their homicide detectives scrambling to cover two murders within twenty-five minutes, the scenes being half the city apart from each other.

Just after police responded to Arfan Ul Haq's drive by murder in the west end came word that Sean Auger had been stabbed to death in Old Strathcona.

Police were first called to Whitemud Drive at 170th Street after reports of shots fired came in at about 2:20 a.m. Sunday, September 21st.

A grey Infiniti G35 was found idling eastbound at a set of lights on the road that connects 170th Street southbound to 170th Street northbound atop Whitemud Drive.

A small white was reported to have fled the scene immediately after the shots were fired and witnesses saw a male passenger run from the Infinti prior to police arriving.

A 30-year-old male was dead behind the steering wheel, still held in place by his seatbelt, the left side of his face bloodied.

The driver-side window was shot out. Bullet holes marked the side of the car, indicating at least nine shots were fired.

The busy intersection was shut down as the forensic team gave the area a thorough processing.

The medical examiner's staff took away the victim's body around noon.

"He is well known to police, he is well known to our gang unit and of course that's assisting officers in their investigation," a spokesman later said, adding the shooting was gang-motivated.

No suspects were identified, and police looked into the status of traffic monitoring cameras located at the intersection.

However, it was later learned that images from the cameras are not recorded.

“Basically, on weekdays, [they exist] so you can plan your route,” transportation spokesman Ben Mittelsteadt said. “You can check the camera and see what traffic's like. It's been pretty valuable to a lot of motorists.”

Investigators asked for anyone who was watching the live web-feeds at the time to contact them at 780-423-4567.

“Maybe there are some night owls that were watching these live feeds and might have seen something that will help the investigation,” the police spokesman hoped for. (Note: anyone who has viewed these images at night might question what useful evidence could be discerned).

Metro Edmonton spoke with a group of people who rolled up to the Infinti shortly after the shooting took place.

“When we got there, the blood was just pouring out of the side of his face from his nose and mouth,” said one person, a passenger in a cab that happened to be following the silver luxury car.

“He had three bullet holes in the side of the neck, one in the head and one in the side of his body,” he said.

The witness and two friends had just left a rap show at the Edmonton Event Centre. Their taxi was behind the Infiniti as it travelled south down 170th Street. As they approached Whitemud Drive, the car sped ahead and went out of sight.

“He was just ahead of us about a minute and he turned the corner onto the Whitemud just before us,” he said. “Somebody definitely pulled up beside him and shot him.”

When they caught up to the Infiniti, they saw the driver – a 30-year-old white male, bearded with short hair – suffering fatal wounds.

“He was twitching from the shoulders and the head. He was dead, but there was still blood pumping out of his wounds and out of his face,” the witness recounted for Metro. “He just kept bleeding and bleeding so much – it was absolutely horrific.”

On September 30th police released details of an autopsy report that indicated 30-year-old Arfan Ul Haq died of multiple gunshot wounds. Haq was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police again confirmed they were still looking for a passenger seen running away from Haq's car and a small white that fled after the shots were fired. Investigators maintain the incident was not random and believed to be gang-motivated.

Haq was well-known to police. In 2004, he was charged with two counts of aggravated assault after two men were beaten and stabbed on Canada Day and left with life-threatening injuries that required surgery.

In the days following the shooting, a memorial sprang up at the crime scene.

Haq's Whitemud Drive shooting took place within sight of the location of Edmonton's sixth homicide of 2008.

On March 12th, 26-year-old nurse Shernell Sharon Pierre was shot and left for dead in a burning car south of 87 Avenue on 170th Street. Her murder remains unsolved.

CTV Edmonton caught up to Mayor Stephen Mandel who said the two weekend deaths highlighted the need for a new committee on crime prevention.

"We need to as a society get far more effective in dealing with the crime prevention side, start spending some time and energy on that, and realise it's not a one-month or a one-year, a five-year – it's a generational change," Mandel said.

Not surprisingly, Mandel's notion of a committee-led response to the city's crime problem didn't sit well with a city criminologist.

Bill Pitt said Edmonton's reputation was worsening daily as gangs continue to "infest the city," adding a committee was not going to address the problem fast enough.

"The people of this city deserve better than what they're getting," Pitt said. "There's no plan in place.

"Unfortunately with this issue, it's committee after committee after committee. They never get out of committees – it never gets to the implementation stage.

"We're seeing this politicised and kicked around like a football. It's time to do something about it."

Pitt laid the blame on the city's growing drug and gang culture for the current wave of violence.

"The drug issue is absolutely the top of the list ... and with that comes gangs and the ancillary issues that come with gangs: prostitution, violence, muggings ...

"You've got Iranian gangs, now gangs from the Middle East, Somalia – they're all organizing and cobbling together at the lower levels and that's really where this violence is really located, at the street level."

Mandel later defended his plan, saying Edmonton would not be facing these problems today if a committee had been set up 25 years ago.

"It's not going to be easy and this is not an overnight solution," he said. "This isn't going to stop next week from any violent crimes happening. This is down the road."

According to the mayor, the committee would take five or six months to gather information and then propose an action plan at a later date.

City councillor Karen Liebovici took issue with Pitt's claims that Edmonton's gang problems were unique.

"Murders happen," she said, suggesting a well-worn phrase.

"Unfortunately they happen and so I wouldn't say Edmonton is unsafe because of the two murders that happened," she added, referring to the shooting near Whitemud Drive and the stabbing in Old Strathcona.

Roots of the recent violence were foreshadowed during a media awareness session presented by Acting Insp. Kevin Galvin, head of the Edmonton Police Service's Co-ordinated Crime Unit – visit Bad Times Headed for Boomtown, an exclusive Last Link report.

With few development's in Arfan Ul Haq's murder coming forward, other media sought background about the city's gang problem from police and a number of crime experts.

"I think that everyone that lives in Edmonton needs to appreciate we're experiencing some gang violence and everyone needs to take responsibility for it," Staff Sgt. Lorne Pubantz, head of the EPS homicide unit, said.

"If they have knowledge to do with gang-related crimes, they need to come forward.

"Nobody deserves to die a violent death, but we, as investigators, certainly fear when the public is put at undue risk," Pubantz added.

The officer, seen above in a file photo, said people need to speak out to help police solve gang-related murders.

"Just because people have the right to silence doesn't mean that silence is the right thing to do," Pubantz said. "We solve homicides when people assist us by telling us what happened. There are always people out there who know."

Pubantz declined to comment on gang violence in general, but illustrated the murder of Nasir Mohamad Said, found dead by construction workers behind Balwin school on September 16th, 2008.

The 22-year-old had outstanding warrants in Ontario and was well-known to RCMP in Fort McMurray.

"That was one instance where we see a player who had chosen to live a certain lifestyle," Pubantz said, adding that gang-related murders do not appear to be on the rise.

According to records kept by this site, of the 21 homicides this year, eleven are considered to be related to gang activity: the victim was associated with or targeted by a gang, or those responsible for a murder were gang members even though their victim was not.

"There may be others we may not even know about until we solve those crimes," Pubantz said.

The Edmonton Sun also called on Bill Pitt, who said Edmontonians should brace themselves for more gang-related violence.

Again, he suggested the face of gangs has changed due to recent changes in immigration patterns, and they are no longer made up of Asian, native or white biker groups.

"There are other gangs that are coming in from other parts of the country," Pitt said.

"African Caribbean groups, groups from the Horn of Africa – Somalia, Sudan. You've got Iranian groups putting out feelers from Montreal that's pretty strong.

"There's a whole bunch of people that are biting at the periphery of contraband profits here in Edmonton and Alberta because this is the engine driving the whole country right now."

A University of Alberta academic agrees with Pitt, saying that the boom that has brought money and jobs to Edmonton has also brought young people with few ties to the community.

"I believe there's been an increase in gang presence in Edmonton compared to five or 15 years ago," Dr. Jana Grekul, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Alberta, told the Edmonton Journal.

"But look at what's been happening in the city generally."

Gang problems are closely tied to the drug trade, Grekul said, adding that a burgeoning economy, with new players at the table, has set the stage for violence.

While sensational, the violence of gang-related shootings like those near Whitemud Drive does not affect most people, she said.

"I would caution the public not to jump to conclusions and not to buy into the sensationalism of these two events," Grekul said. "They are tragic ... but they are not random events."

The Sun also turned to a source close to the local gang scene.

"Have you noticed, all the recent violence and shootings don't involve the native gangs or the Asians?" the man pointed out to the Sun on condition of anonymity.

Recent victims of gang-related violence all had Middle Eastern-sounding names, the man thought, and while Haq was from Edmonton, Nasir Said and Mohamed Ali Ibrahim (shot outside the River Cree Resort and Casino on August 30th) both had ties to Toronto.

It's possible that gangsters from central Canada are moving here to take advantage of Edmonton's booming drug trade, but they're stepping on local toes and paying the price, the man said.

And there is more to come ... as the newcomers – either from other parts of Canada or immigrants – "have to establish themselves in some way. They have to make a point. There will be retaliation. It's not over."

The two separate homicides on September 21st seemed to continue a statistical tradition surrounding the month in Edmonton.

On September 2nd, 2007 Farhan Hassan, 27, and Kasim Mohamed, 28, were shot dead outside the Fulton Place Community Hall, one of two double murders that year.

A year earlier, three people were murdered on a single day in separate incidents. On September 9th, 2006 Cody Aaron Bull, 28, was stabbed at 12:30 a.m. at 10211 156 Street.

Two hours later John Albert Buckniak, 21, was stabbed near 40th Street and Hermitage Road. Shortly before the day ended, popular bikini model Lily Tran aka Lily Duong, 23, was shot in her car near 76th Avenue and Argyll Road.

The Edmonton Police Service web site entry for Arfan Ul Haq can be seen here.

deadmonton 2008 - arfan ul haq