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Randy George Lintner, 46, was beaten to death January 13th, 2008.

Lintner was Edmonton's first homicide victim of the year.

Case status is open and active.

A man severely injured during a fight in the parking lot of The Canadian Brewhouse at 12711 97 Street shortly after midnight January 13th, 2008 died hours later in hospital.

Police believed the 46-year-old victim was knocked to the ground during an altercation he was trying to break up.

The man was found unconscious and taken to hospital where he died ten or (according to some reports) eighteen hours later. No details regarding the injuries the man sustained were initially released.

Bar manager Matt Woods told media the fight started outside the bar and had nothing to do with the brewhouse.

It was reported that two female employees of the bar and an off-duty nurse tried to save the victim after calls to 911 describing a 'bar fight' were made. Paramedics were delayed about 25 minutes as they waited for police to secure the scene.

Detectives also questioned a number of witnesses but had no one immediately in custody. Investigators seized the bar's surveillance video to see if any of the assailants or the victim had been inside.

“We didn’t recognise anyone,” said Roger Newton, one of the bar's owners. Newton added he didn’t believe the victim had been in the bar after reviewing the video.

“We don’t have fights inside at all. I don’t even have doormen,” said Woods, fearing his bar had been linked to a homicide.

Police reported no weapons were involved in the assault.

Details of the delay of paramedics in attending to the man were revealed by Insp. Brian Lobay of the police communications section.

Lobay said they received the first 911 call at 12:06 a.m., but other calls – including a throat slashing and an officer needing assistance at a domestic dispute – caused patrol units to be diverted. Police were again dispatched to the bar at 12:15 a.m. with the first officers arriving on scene at 12:31 a.m. The man was enroute to hospital by 12:34 a.m.

"It's unfortunate, but when everything happens at the same time, you can only stretch your resources so far," Lobay said.

An internal examination of the role staffing levels played in the events was to take place over the next few days.

Acting EMS chief Jim Garland said it was mandatory for paramedics to wait until police have cleared the scene whenever a stabbing, shooting or other high-risk incident is involved – a process called "staging."

"You have to understand that in this case, we have to ensure the scene is safe for all the staff involved – EMS, fire and EPS as well. If it is determined that the scene is potentially unsafe for the people responding, or for even the public, we want the police to go first because they have the tools to mitigate any dangerous events going on at the time," Garland said.

"Our goal is to protect the public first and our staff second, and responding to scene without the tools to mitigate any event could put the public at risk if someone decides to further carry on with the event," he said.

The issue of staging first came to light in connection with the murder of 42-year-old James Douglas Foley on September 4th, 2007 in the Clarke Park parking lot.

In the Foley case, it took seven minutes for the scene to be cleared. Ironically it was a paramedic who first came across Foley.

On January 15th, 2008 police released the identity and cause of death of Edmonton's first murder victim of 2008.

An autopsy showed that Randy George Lintner, 46, died of head trauma, the direct result of a punch to the head.

Also revealed were details of progress police have made in the investigation, saying the fight that led to Lintner's death was one of three that took place in the parking lot.

"It doesn't appear the victim knew the people involved in the fight," said a police spokesman.

Detectives believed the same people were involved in all three fights and were trying to identify them.

They also seized a vehicle they believe the suspects fled in – the result of information gleaned from witnesses.

"Police do expect to lay charges," said a police spokesman. Investigators had identified several suspects but were faced with determining the sequence of events leading up to Lintner's fatal punch, saying those responsible were each involved in the morning's three fights.

"It's a pretty complex investigation," said the spokesman. Figuring exactly how many people were involved in the fights was made difficult by having to sort out the participants from the crowd of bystanders "who gathered around and watched."

Those with information about the assault on Lintner were 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.

The Edmonton Journal reported they received a call from an eyewitness to Lintner's murder. The witness was afraid of retaliation and asked not to be named. The caller said Lintner was actually the second Good Samaritan who tried to break up the fight.

After he saw three men beating up on a smaller man outside the bar at about 11:45 p.m. – minutes before the attack on Lintner – another man ran to help the smaller man. It was then the three turned their attention to him. The smaller man passed out and was taken to hospital where he received 25 stitches to his head and face.

According to the Journal's caller, the melee swelled to at least 10 people and there were at least 40 others in the parking lot watching, the witness said. "It was a huge crowd."

It was then Lintner called out for everyone to stop. He waived his cellphone in the air and told the crowd he was going to call police.

"He just tried to get the fear of the police into those guys. They did not like that," the witness told the paper.

The men started hitting Lintner and the man fell to the ground.

The Edmonton Sun also received a call from a witness who too remained unidentified.

The person said the evening's troubles began with an earlier fight between two people which caused a friend of one of the men involved to come out of the bar to step in – which started another fight.

While the second fracas was underway Lintner showed up. Just as he was about to call 911 on his cellphone one of the people fighting hit him from behind.

According to the Sun's witness, the punch caused Lintner's eyes to roll back in his head. After he fell to the pavement, the man kicked him twice.

On January 16th a police spokesman confirmed reports that though gang members were involved the fights didn't appear to have a criminal motive.

“It was just a bar fight,” the spokesman said.

Lintner's father, Ken, told CBC Edmonton his son had always been a "scrapper." The former Camrose resident, a pipefitter by trade, worked all over Alberta and had been staying with his father in Edmonton since Christmas.

As Lintner headed out with friends on the evening of January 12th, he told his father to leave the door unlocked because he would likely be home late.

As the entourage arrived at The Canadian Brewhouse they saw a fight in the parking lot. Lintner intervened, was punched and hit the ground already unconscious.

Concerning the delay paramedics faced in attending to his son, Ken Lintner said it didn't matter because police told him Randy was brain-dead almost immediately after being hit and falling to the pavement.

The Edmonton Sun reported a relative said Lintner had just become a grandfather in September.

"He was a great guy and is already missed by his family," Randy's sister Sheri told the Sun.

Younger brother George Lintner told Global Edmonton what he knew of what happened on the parking lot as Randy was trying to make a 911 call.

"One of these guys that were laying a beating on the other guy grabbed the phone, broke it, threw it ... then hit my brother back here ..."

"... and from what the coroner has told me that was the blow that killed him."

George said that what Randy did was a family trait.

"He was just trying to help. I can't say that I would walk by that myself ... " he said of the altercation.

"There's lots of people that want to turn their eye and pretend it's not happening. We're definitely not made of that cloth. We would step in to help anybody that was down and out regardless who is doing it."

George was at the hospital when Randy was taken off life support.

"It was hard knowing that I wouldn't be able to talk to him again. That was hard," George said.

"My brother was a great guy. I'm going to miss him lots. My family is going to miss him lots. His boys are going to miss him a lot."

"He was no angel, but he was not a bad guy," George admitted to the Journal.

"He had a big heart. I know if he had made out of the hospital, even if he was seriously injured, he would do it again."

"He was always there whenever someone needed help. It is kind of a family trait," George said. "He would have intervened. It was a natural thing for him to do."

"He was a father, a grandfather, a son, an uncle and a friend. He touched a lot of people's hearts."

While George acknowledged that little could have been done to save his brother, he felt delays faced by paramedics could mean the difference between life and death.

"If they're afraid to go into areas where it's dangerous then I guess we're going to have to start putting a police officer on all the ambulances so they don't have to wait."

Lintner left behind two sons in their 20s.

Dozens gathered to honour Randy Lintner at a service held January 21st, 2008.

He was remembered as a man who always looked to help others.

"That's totally him .. you know, helping out," said Ray Meier who worked with Lintner. "He didn't want to see anybody get hurt, right, so ... he deserved better than that as far as I'm concerned."

"He was a great guy," said Julie Katrenicz who had known Lintner for over 20 years. "Life cut too short ... way too quick."

With the lack of a visible and active crime scene – the flashing lights of emergency vehicles, plainclothed detectives interviewing witnesses or examining blood stains on the pavement, a lifeless body laying on the ground or being transported on a medical examiner office stretcher – media (and web sites) waiting for Edmonton's seemlingly long-awaited first homicide of the year had little to show.

The 'Good Samaritan' aspect of the story of Randy Lintner's death was widely used in coverage and the Edmonton Sun posed the obvious hypothetical question with less than optimistic results.

The one-day voluntary poll allowed only a single response per computer.

The Sun also resorted to grabbing a quote from the always-ready Bill Pitt, an Edmonton criminologist.

"I can tell you that to stop and help anybody out today, you do so at your own peril," blurted Pitt. "And that's a sad indicator of how hardened society has become. It can cost you your life."

Good Samaritans simply aren't given enough support by society or protection by the courts to justify such selfless behaviour, Pitt said – adding the best way to head off a crime was to call authorities.

Ironically, the day Pitt's comments were published a bullet was served up at the Joey Tomato's restaurant when an off-duty cook stepped in to break up a fight and was shot in the leg.

Television coverage of the Lintner homicide was challenged by the lack of usually available "money shots," and viewers were treated with plenty of 'B' roll footage that hopefully indicated the actual location of the murder.

Global Edmonton juxtaposed their shot of a hopeful spot on the pavement with an image of a national symbol.

The Sun Media/Quebecor-owned 24hrs free streetbox newspaper depicted the media dilemma best – capturing a CBC cameraman trying to make visual sense of Lintner's plight.

deadmonton 2008 - randy george lintner