Three people were charged Saturday with 1st-degree murder in the killings of two convenience store clerks in Edmonton Friday.
Laylin Delorme, 24, Colton Steinhauer, 27, and a 13-year-old boy who cannot be named are each charged with two counts of first-degree murder, robbery with a prohibited restricted firearm, being disguised with intent and other offences.
All three have criminal records and were prohibited from possessing firearms, police said. The boy had been scheduled to appear in court Friday on unrelated charges.
Police also named the clerk killed at the 109th Street Mac’s Convenience store as Ricky Massin Cenabre, 41.
Earlier, police identified Karanpal Bhangu, 35, as the clerk at the Mill Woods store who came to Canada from India just three months ago with his six-year-old son in order to join his wife, who’s been living here for four years.
Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan says there should be tougher legislation to better protect vulnerable, night-shift retail workers, who are often young people and immigrants.
Alberta Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley says there will be a review of the rules.
‘Gratuitous evil’
Edmonton police Chief Rod Knecht said Friday the community should be outraged after the convenience store clerks were fatally gunned down during robberies that netted only small amounts of cash.
Knecht said the two men were working alone and didn’t fight back when masked robbers walked into their stores early Friday morning.
“These were extreme acts of violence,” Knecht said Friday. “I talked to investigators before I came in here, and they say it was over-the-top violence. Absolutely unnecessary, gratuitous, evil.”
The first shooting took place at about 3:30 a.m. at the Mac’s convenience store at 32nd Avenue and 82nd Street in the Mill Woods neighbourhood, where Bhangu worked.
Bhangu was found in medical distress by an officer. Another officer with paramedic training arrived and both administered CPR. Bhangu was taken to hospital and later died from a gunshot wound to the stomach.
Fifteen minutes later, police were called to the Mac’s store at 109th Street and 61st Avenue, where Cenabre worked. A delivery man followed a trail of blood and found Cenabre dead in the back.
A panic alarm was set off in the store. After police failed to reach anyone at the store after making three phone calls each one minute apart, a car was sent to the location.
After learning about the two robberies and shootings, police officers were sent to Mac’s stores across the city to check on the welfare of employees, Knecht said.
The suspects were found in a Honda Element believed stolen from Strathcona County, east of Edmonton. They were close to a third Mac’s Convenience Store in the city’s Callingwood neighbourhood when they were approached by police.
The suspects fled in the vehicle, which police chased down the Whitemud Drive freeway. The suspects were arrested without incident after the vehicle crashed into an overpass at Terwillegar Drive.
Bernie Abrams, who has lived in the neighborhood for five years, told CBC News, “It’s sad. I mean take the money, but why kill somebody? It doesn’t make sense. Because I don’t think they would have fought back.”
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