Kyle Joy-Trussert, 23, was shot September 10th, 2011.
Joy-Trussert was Edmonton's 36th homicide victim of the year.
Steven Laflamme, 24 was charged with manslaughter, obstruction, and a firearms-related offence.
Friendship was re-defined in west Edmonton after a dying man sent police on a wild-goose chase to protect his roomate. It was either that or fear.
At least one of those two scenarios played out early September 10th, 2011, after officers responded to a report of a shooting around 2:30 a.m.
When they arrived they found an injured man in his twenties, suffering from an apparent gunshot wound, lying on the floor of a suite inside F Block at 17740 81 Avenue.
While some early media reports mistakenly placed the victim in a parking lot, the injured man apparently told officers he had been involved in an incident outside a pub in a nearby strip mall.
"It seems to have occurred within two blocks of here and he managed to walk to this apartment," Insp. Brian Nowlan said at the scene.
"I don't know if this is home or he's visiting it."
The man was rushed to hospital where he underwent emergency surgery and was later listed in critical and unstable condition.
Police checked the strip mall at 175th Street and 82nd Avenue but found nothing to back up the man's story about being involved in something there – see additional images »
The focus of the investigation returned to F Block where police later questioned a person of interest – see images »
Residents who slept through the early morning's events at the Greentree Village complex within the Thorncliff neighbourhood, south of West Edmonton Mall, woke up to crime tape and greater-than-usual police activity – read more »
Most residents said that thay hadn't experienced anything like this before.
"I never heard a thing," Sam Kumar said. "I've been here more than three years and never seen anything like this, this serious with all these police cars."
One man said he heard yelling in the hallways of the complex around the time shots rang out.
For the most part, he added, there hasn't been too much trouble at the six-building complex.
"Nothing like this, I mean there is a fair amount of partying that goes on," he said. "But not this."
Another person who did notice something was Jeymi Sagastume's son. The two had moved into Greentree Village just two weeks before.
Jeymi's crying son woke her around 3:30 a.m. That's when she noticed blue and red lights flashing outside. She said there were sometimes arguments in the parking lot, but she hadn't heard of anything violent.
"We moved from a place police told me was bad," she said, referring to her previous west-end home.
"I don't want this place to be the same."
Another person who had recently moved to Greentree to get away from the crime issues of her old neighbourhood – Abbottsfield – was Jolene Hutchinson.
Living through deja vu all over again had her considering the possibility of moving again.
"I want to move out right now," she said Hutchinson, talking to reporters from the safety of her third-floor suite in the building next door to the crime scene.
"We are already looking for a place to live."
Hutchinson should have checked first with an unnamed woman who said the condo was known for drugs.
"People come in and out of there all the time," the woman said.
But at least one resident maintained she would stand her ground despite the morning's events.
"This is terrifying. I mean, this is a really safe neighbourhood. I've never experienced anything like this," Wendy Russell said.
"Seeing a police line going across my lawn – that's a little scary.
"It's really common to have people walking through [the area] and have kids playing out there.
"There were kids playing until 9 o'clock last night. It's a busy way. But I've never seen anything bad go on.
"This is a wonderful place to live – I mean this is tragic – but it doesn't deter me from wanting to be here."
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"Members responded to the scene here and they found a male, approximately 23 years old, suffering from a single gunshot wound," Det. Bob Walsh said.
"We're not quite sure on where the actual scene itself is. We checked where he had indicated something may have transpired but there was nothing found at that location.
"Forensic members are doing their investigation to see what evidence we can obtain," Walsh said – see images »
A second-floor F Block balcony could be seen marked off with yellow tape.
Then, shortly before 11:00 a.m., the man passed away. Police termed his death suspicious.
It had been three weeks since homicide detectives were last called out. Work on outstanding files had to be put aside as the year's 36th murder now appeared to be on the top of the pile.
But the matter was an easy one for investigators this time around.
Within 24 hours, on September 11th, police announced they had charged 24-year-old Steven Laflamme with manslaughter, obstruction and a firearms-related offence.
"Investigators received good co-operation from witnesses in an effort to gather information and evidence," Staff Sergeant Dave Spiers of the EPS Homicide Section said in a release to media, adding that police were not seeking any other suspects.
A possible scenario could be read between the lines of the charges: a gun that somebody shouldn't have owned went off accidently and officers were later lied to.
Police also announced that the victim was Laflamme's roommate: 23-year-old Kyle Joy-Trussert. Two days later, an autopsy confirmed he died of a single gunshot wound.
The deceased man was known to police, as a relative of one confirmed – and one suspected – victim of homicide – read more »
On January 9th, 2007, 48-year-old Robert Wayne Joy – Kyle's father – was fatally stabbed in a home at 12035 64 Street in north-central Edmonton.
Second-degree murder and possession of a weapon charges were laid against a 41-year-old man.
After close to seven hours of deliberation, a jury found the man not guilty.
Court heard that toxicology tests indicated Joy had a very high level of crystal methamphetamine in his system at the time of his death, and that the accused had acted in self-defence after Joy had first poked another man with a samurai sword.
On September 5th, 2001, Kyle's 41-year-old uncle Nick died after falling out of a moving van near Mayfield Road and 170th Street.
No charges were ever laid in connection with Nick's death but the Joy family believed it was drug-related. Police also suspected foul play was involved.
There was no indication that Kyle's murder was connected to either of the two cases.
Friends remembered Kyle Joy-Trussert as a generous man close to his family. One person who knew him volunteered what he heard about had happened the night the man died – read more »
David Mcdonald told Metro Edmonton his friend of 10 years was a person who "would do anything for anyone."
He said Kyle and the man charged with his death were "good friends."
The night before he was shot, the roommates had been out drinking before returning home.
According to what Mcdonald had heard, the pair was "playing with a gun they didn't know was loaded."
One-time girlfriend Britnee Hills said Joy-Trussert had worked a number of odd jobs throughout the years, including landscaping, snow removal, and working for his grandfather's concrete business.
"He's the kind of person that would give anybody the shirt off his back in the middle of a snowstorm," Hills said.
The two had dated for about two years, living together in Red Deer and Edmonton. She said the slain man was close with her now six-year-old son, often ferrying him to daycare in the mornings.
"He was one of those people who loved kids. As soon as there was a kid around ... Kyle was gone," Hills said.
While the couple broke up a few years ago, they remained close.
Kyle was extremely close to his younger sister and to his mother, Hills said, adding the family lives on a farm in Stony Plain.
The man's friends were working with his mother to handle funeral arrangements.
"She's pretty heartbroken," Hill said.
Kyle had a core group of close friends, Hill said. Often he would recall their high-school escapades.
Outside of work, the care-free man spent most of his time with friends.
"It was just him and his boys," Hills said. "He was always the guy who just wanted to live his life."
A Facebook tribute page was also set up for the man.
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