Activist Shawna Oochoo, photo courtesy Facebook.
There are a lot of questions and concerns after a rash of shootings in Regina over the past week. There have been four separate shootings that have left two people injured , one of them critically.
Three of the shootings involved bullets being fired into homes in North Central Regina, where a community patrol has taken to the streets. The White Pony Lodge began its first patrols last weekend with more than a dozen volunteers donning fluorescent jackets and marching down the streets of the city’s most crime prone neighbhourhood. They are ready to hit the beat again tonight and tomorrow.
Organizer Shawna Oochoo says the recent violence in North Central is nothing new. She says it took a long time for the neighbourhood to get this bad, and it will take a long time to fix it, but she says the community is committed to that goal.
You know what, honestly from the community themselves, it’s just amazing, “She said. “People who are riding by or driving by, they are pulling up to us and they are just cheering us on when we are out there and that is so completely encouraging.“
Since last Saturday, there have been three incidents where bullets were fired into homes, all within a few blocks of each other. On Wednesday morning, a man checked himself into hospital after being shot. Police do not know if the injury is connected to a shooting at a neighbourhood home earlier that morning. Police department spokesman, Les Parker, says police do not have much information to release at this time.
“We are not aware of anything connecting the shootings,” he said. “Unfortunately we don’t know a lot about the shootings so we are unable to say at the present time if there are any connections.”
The most serious shooting took place on Monday, near the downtown. A 29 year old man was shot on Victoria avenue and 12th street. At last word , he was reported to be in critical condition.
There have been no arrests in any of the shootings.