Gun violence is seeing a continuous rise in Edmonton.
The Edmonton Police Service (EPS) says that they responded to 21 shootings during June. This is more than double the 9 shootings that EPS responded to in June 2022, an increase of 133 per cent.
"Brazen gun violence continues to be a concern in our city,” said acting Inspector Eric Stewart of the EPS Organized Crime Branch.
"We continue to focus on identifying the suspects responsible for these shootings, seizing firearms and testing them to determine linkages to other crimes in Edmonton and throughout the country.”
Of the 21 shootings, EPS says that 15 were targeted, 12 caused injuries, and three resulted in deaths.
Even scarier, almost every single one put innocent bystanders at risk.
“A staggering 20 out of the 21 shootings this month had the potential to harm innocent people, including kids," said Stewart.
So far this year there have been 97 shootings reported to EPS in 2023 with 587 guns seized. That is a 26 per cent increase to the 77 shootings reported by this time last year.