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Police investigating ‘acts of terrorism’ in Edmonton (Canada)

F

FrsDvl

Member
http://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/police-i...ilians-injured-in-series-of-attacks-1.3614221

Edmonton Police said a suspect was in custody, while an officer and four civilians were in hospital, following a violent series of events in Edmonton Saturday night and early Sunday morning.

Police said the first incident happened at about 8:15 p.m. in the area of 107A Avenue and 92 Street.

EPS Chief Rod Knecht said the uniformed officer had been standing behind a barricade and in front of his police vehicle when a male driving a white Chevrolet Malibu crashed into the barricade, hitting the officer.

“[The officer] was approached by an unknown male suspect in a vehicle, at which time the suspect rammed the police cruiser,” EPS spokesperson Scott Pattison said. “The suspect got out of his vehicle and an altercation ensued. The officer sustained some injuries, he’s in hospital, and thankfully he’s doing OK.”

The officer was stabbed a number of times during the confrontation.

Pattison said the suspect was still at large hours later, he reportedly fled on foot north on 92 Street. At last word, Air 1 was assisting officers in efforts to track the suspect.
CTV News cameras captured what appeared to be an ISIS flag inside the vehicle that crashed into the cruiser. In a news conference hours later, EPS Chief Rod Knecht confirmed an ISIS flag had been discovered in the white vehicle.
Click to expand...

Then, just before midnight, a UHaul was pulled over at a Checkstop on Wayne Gretzky Drive and 112 Avenue – an officer checking the driver’s licence recognized the name, and the UHaul fled the scene.
Police pursued the truck.

“Throughout the chase, the truck deliberately attempted to hit pedestrians in crosswalks and in alleys in two areas along Jasper Avenue,” Knecht said, he said police were aware of four individuals injured and taken to hospital as a result of this incident.
Finally, the UHaul truck flipped on Jasper Avenue – the driver was apprehended and is in custody.
Click to expand...

“It is believed at this time that these two incidents are related, based on evidence at the scenes, and actions of the suspect, at 12:38 a.m. today, it was determined that these incidents are being investigated as acts of terrorism,” Knecht said.

Knecht said it’s believed the suspect acted alone, but investigators are not ruling out the possibility others may have been involved.
EPS is working with the RCMP Integrated National Security Enforcement Team on this investigation.
Click to expand...
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
I guess terrorism finally showed up in my hometown. That feels weird.
 
S

Syf

Banned
I was actually at this football game tonight. First time experiencing one of these events unfold firsthand. Lots of confusion and frightened people especially after the Uhaul. Just glad to be home safe. Loads of credit to EPS for responding quickly and finding him before he could do whatever he intended to after attacking the officer.

I worry about the city's reaction if the attacker is muslim. We already know there was an ISIS flag. Edmonton has a significant muslim population, and I've read articles earlier this year about the rise in anti-muslim sentiment. It could get very ugly.
 
F

FrsDvl

Member
I dispatch at one of the taxi companies in the city, and when the whole u-haul thing unfolded it got pretty chaotic, drivers yelling at me over the radio about this u haul truck that's flying through the streets. It seemed so sureal, everyone was panicking. I'm glad it came to a stop before it hit Jasper Ave
 
A

astroturfing

Member
BocoDragon said:
I guess terrorism finally showed up in my hometown. That feels weird.
Click to expand...

yeah.. all it takes is one fucking radicalized asshole to make an entire city feel unsafe. happened here in Turku (Finland) some weeks ago too. i still can't go to some of the places that were evacuated, i just can't. hit way too close.
 
D

Discotheque

Banned
So this is what happened. I was heading downtown after oktoberfest at northlands and counted at least 14 cop cars speeding by us on the way there 👀
 
S

Spinoff90

Member
Sure isn't getting much coverage compared to other stuff like this. CTV Calgary don't even have anything about it on their news site and you would think it would be making Alberta news at least.
 
O

ozhenson

Member
Ugh, the trend remains, Any time I see Edmonton on neogaf, it's for awful reasons.

This guy is scum, plain and simple. Edmonton has always felt like a city where anybody could walk around and be safe... I hope this doesn't curb those feelings.
 
6

6.8

Member
According to the Facebook comments on this topic Canada has only started having terrorist incidents and taking refugees in the last two years.

Checks out.

🤦*♂️🤷*♂️
 
S

SRG01

Member
Lone wolf attacker, nothing really to worry about. Edmonton is pretty safe -- even 118th Ave, which has a bit of a reputation.
 
E

exYle

Member
Jesus, I used to live literally a block away from where the officer was attacked. I took that route to Commonwealth to work out.

I've been reading FB comments here and there regarding the attack and... it's not pretty. The racists are slipping out of the bushes. I really hope this guy wasn't a refugee.
 
P

Parch

Member
Quite the chase scene. Multiple squad cars and a tracking chopper chasing some ISIS asshole through the crowded streets of downtown Edmonton. Looks like they smashed a hole in the windshield to drag his sorry ass out.

We'll probably see increased police visibility from now on, but I don't think Edmonton is going to be "terror stricken" by this idiot.
 
S

SRG01

Member
Parch said:
Quite the chase scene. Multiple squad cars and a tracking chopper chasing some ISIS asshole through the crowded streets of downtown Edmonton. Looks like they smashed a hole in the windshield to drag his sorry ass out.

We'll probably see increased police visibility from now on, but I don't think Edmonton is going to be "terror stricken" by this idiot.
Click to expand...

We're the murder capital of Canada; it'll take more than one incident to shake us.
 
H

Heshinsi

"playing" dumb? unpossible
SRG01 said:
We're the murder capital of Canada; it'll take more than one incident to shake us.
Click to expand...
No we're not. That dubious distinction goes to Grande Prairie.

It's weird to see how every comment page for news reports on this incident, have people asking when Trudeau would give the suspect money, or saying things like Trudeau's love of immigrants is the reason this happened. As if the last three major terror incidents in this country didn't come at the hands of Canadian born French Canadians (two Islamists and one white supremacist), and that two of those incidents hadn't occurred while Harper was PM.

I wouldn't be surprised if this suspect is also home grown, and I wouldn't be surprised if he too was newly converted.
 
S

SRG01

Member
Heshinsi said:
No we're not. That dubious distinction goes to Grande Prairie.

It's weird to see how every comment page for news reports on this incident, have people asking when Trudeau would give the suspect money, or saying things like Trudeau's love of immigrants is the reason this happened. As if the last three major terror incidents in this country didn't come at the hands of Canadian born French Canadians (two Islamists and one white supremacist), and that two of those incidents hadn't occurred while Harper was PM.

I wouldn't be surprised if this suspect is also home grown, and I wouldn't be surprised if he too was newly converted.
Click to expand...

There was a post on Reddit saying as much (the murder rate) the other day? Was that wrong?

(Oh, for larger cities. Found the article http://edmontonjournal.com/news/loc...ide-rate-how-the-citys-violent-year-stacks-up)

To the point though: it's nearly 100% that this person was homegrown, which would be in line with every other incident in the country so far.
 
P

Parch

Member
Heshinsi said:
As if the last three major terror incidents in this country didn't come at the hands of Canadian born French Canadians (two Islamists and one white supremacist), and that two of those incidents hadn't occurred while Harper was PM.

I wouldn't be surprised if this suspect is also home grown, and I wouldn't be surprised if he too was newly converted.
Click to expand...
Yeah, not a lot of terrorist history in Alberta compared to other parts of Canada. This guy didn't get gunned down so his motives and history should be known fairly soon.
 
H

Heshinsi

"playing" dumb? unpossible
SRG01 said:
There was a post on Reddit saying as much (the murder rate) the other day? Was that wrong?

To the point though: it's nearly 100% that this person was homegrown, which would be in line with every other incident in the country so far.
Click to expand...
It seems like we're both wrong. Fort McMurry was Canada's murder capital for 2016, while Grand Prairie was the place where the most violent crimes occurred, and also had the highest gun related crimes.

Edit: oh so compared to just the big cities? Well that's true. Toronto which is magnitudes bigger, is significantly safer. But I've never really had any problems feeling unsafe in any part of Edmonton to be honest.
 
S

SRG01

Member
Heshinsi said:
It seems like we're both wrong. Fort McMurry was Canada's murder capital for 2016, while Grand Prairie was the place where the most violent crimes occurred, and also had the highest gun related crimes.

Edit: oh so compared to just the big cities? Well that's true. Toronto which is magnitudes bigger, is significantly safer. But I've never really had any problems feeling unsafe in any part of Edmonton to be honest.
Click to expand...

I've walked down 118th Ave late at night with zero issues. Don't know if that makes me brave or stupid though!

On the flip side, I overheard a woman at a coffee shop say she was near-assaulted several times on Whyte Ave, which is the opposite of 118th :(
 
J

jstripes

Banned
Heshinsi said:
No we're not. That dubious distinction goes to Grande Prairie.

It's weird to see how every comment page for news reports on this incident, have people asking when Trudeau would give the suspect money, or saying things like Trudeau's love of immigrants is the reason this happened. As if the last three major terror incidents in this country didn't come at the hands of Canadian born French Canadians (two Islamists and one white supremacist), and that two of those incidents hadn't occurred while Harper was PM.

I wouldn't be surprised if this suspect is also home grown, and I wouldn't be surprised if he too was newly converted.
Click to expand...

Yup. If the formula fits, his parents were likely nice people, he was going through difficult times, some ISIS internet recruiter or rogue Imam spotted him and slowly groomed him, and that's that.
 
E

exYle

Member
Heshinsi said:
It seems like we're both wrong. Fort McMurry was Canada's murder capital for 2016, while Grand Prairie was the place where the most violent crimes occurred, and also had the highest gun related crimes.

Edit: oh so compared to just the big cities? Well that's true. Toronto which is magnitudes bigger, is significantly safer. But I've never really had any problems feeling unsafe in any part of Edmonton to be honest.
Click to expand...

Not a good look for Alberta =/

And 118th isn't a super nice street, I don't feel comfortable there at night
 
S

Syf

Banned
Yeah, to clarify what I said as well, him being a refugee is just going to make things harder on the good ones.
 
N

Night Angel

Member
If he was known by law enforcement and they could do nothing, we might need to start thinking of ways to enable action before these clowns kill people. How, though, to take action without infringing on innocents will be nearly impossible I bet.
 
B

bremon

Member
I still feel safe here. Hoping for the best for the pedestrians and officer. Also hoping life doesn’t get more difficult for minorities in Edmonton thanks to racists.
 
S

SRG01

Member
bremon said:
I still feel safe here. Hoping for the best for the pedestrians and officer. Also hoping life doesn’t get more difficult for minorities in Edmonton thanks to racists.
Click to expand...

The Somali community is pretty ostracized in Edmonton, so here's hoping that nothing bad will happen :(
 
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