8 deaths in 12 days: String of violent deaths in Edmonton not cause for panic, experts say

Eight violent deaths in 12 days.

It's been a tragic two weeks in Edmonton, with multiple killings by gunshot, knife and other forms of violence.

But while emotions understandably run high when it seems like every day brings more killing, some experts say there's no reason to think that the recent spate of killings signifies a major break from public safety levels of recent years.

More likely, it's just a cluster of unrelated incidents that will even out in the annual statistics.

"Should we all be afraid for our lives? No," says Daniel Jones, the associate chair of justice studies at Norquest College who spent 25 years as an Edmonton police officer.

The nine deaths were scattered across the city in six separate incidents on six different days over the past two weeks. Because they are so recent, little is publicly known about them, and police have only begun investigating.

But on the surface, there's nothing connecting the incidents directly.

In the early hours of March 5, 34-year-old Nathan Frencheater was found stabbed to death in Haddow, in the city's southwest. A relative of the victim was arrested and charged with second-degree murder

Two days later, in the early evening of March 7, police responded to a weapons complaint in the Delwood/Belvedere area. They discovered two people inside a vehicle — Mohamed Lamin Fofanah, 20, and Mya Abialmouna, 21 — who had been shot multiple times. They both died soon after.

Then, at 2:30 a.m. on March 11, EPS responded to a single-vehicle collision in an alley in Beacon Heights. In the driver's seat was a 44-year-old man with what police described as "injuries consistent with an assault, not a collision." The man died at the scene.

The following day, in the early morning of March 12, a man entered a Pizza Hut in Woodcroft and shot a 55-year-old employee before fleeing. The victim was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries.

On the morning of March 15, police found a man shot to death after a weapons complaint in the Kilkenny area.

The following morning, EPS officers Const. Travis Jordan, 35, and Const. Brett Ryan, 30, were shot dead by a 16-year-old male suspect in Inglewood, who also died of a gunshot wound. Police said the officers did not fire their weapons, and they believe the suspect's wound was self-inflicted. The suspect's mother was also shot and is in hospital in serious condition.

But Jones cautioned against connecting dots. Very little has been released about the investigations, and proximity between crimes doesn't by itself mean there's any connection.