CALGARY—While Calgary had nearly half the homicides in 2018 compared to the two years prior, officer-involved shootings — deadly cases, in particular — are up.

The city saw a total of 17 homicides in 2018. By comparison, each of the two prior years recorded 30 homicides.

But 2018 also saw five fatal police-involved shootings, with the Christmas Day shooting death of 29-year-old Stacey Perry putting the city at the same number of deaths during police incidents as 2016. That year, the number of officer-involved shooting deaths was so concerning that it prompted a review of the Calgary Police Service’s use of force practices.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) opened nine investigations into Calgary police incidents in 2018. Aside from the five cases where people were shot and killed, one incident involved a man who was shot and seriously injured by police. There were also three cases where police fired a gun at someone but no one was hurt.

The total is more than four times the number of incidents that ASIRT began probing in 2017, when only two police-involved shootings were reported in Calgary. (ASIRT investigates incidents involving Alberta’s police that have resulted in serious injury or death to any person, as well as serious or sensitive allegations of police misconduct.)

Of the city’s 17 homicides, at least five are allegedly related to domestic violence and seven were reported as shootings. Victims ranged in age from 19 to 63, and half were in their 20s or younger.

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Of the five cases where no one has yet been arrested or charged, all involve victims of gun violence.

These are the lives lost to violence in Calgary this past year and what we know about what happened.

Darby Chase Shade, 26

Calgary’s first homicide of 2018 came slightly more than two weeks into the year, when Shade’s body was found in the Westbrook Mall parking lot on Jan. 16. Police said an “altercation” happened that night at a house party across the street. Two men, Christian Whitebear and Matthew Crane-Watchmaker, have been charged with second-degree murder in relation to Shade’s death.

Nadia El-Dib, 22

El-Dib was killed early in the morning of March 25 in northeast Calgary after leaving a downtown shisha bar with Adam Bettahar, a man she had previously dated. Bettahar stabbed her more than 40 times and cut her throat before shooting her with a gun he had bought two weeks earlier. Bettahar became the subject of a Canada-wide warrant for first-degree murder, and a few days later he was killed in a shootout with Evansburg RCMP.

Police released significant details about El-Dib’s death at the request of her family, saying they consider her death a domestic homicide.

Joshua Brendan Bamfo, 25; and Mahad Abdirahman Ainanshe, 23

Bamfo and Ainanshe were found shot to death in a car in northwest Calgary on the afternoon of April 20. Police spoke to a person of interest in the case, but released them without charges. No one has been charged in the case.

Craig Cutter, 24

Cutter’s death was ruled a homicide a few days after he was found injured in downtown Calgary on May 27. Police say he was stabbed after allegedly fighting with the suspect, Kyle Bearhat, who has since been charged with manslaughter.

Jason Dirks, 46

Dirks died in hospital after police found him seriously injured in Calgary’s Marlborough neighbourhood on June 9. Shane Robin Baum has been charged with second-degree murder in the case, but police have refused to release details on how Dirks was killed or how the two men, who they say knew each other, were related.

Adam Colquhoun, 43

Colquhoun was shot at the Town and Country Inn in southeast Calgary on the morning of July 28. Ryan Foster, 37, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder two days later.

Taylor Toller, 24; Alan Pennylegion, 51; and Shawn Boshuk, 52

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A triple homicide that police consider “domestic in nature” saw victims found in two different homes, likely killed days apart. Police say married couple Boshuk and Pennylegion were killed on July 31 and their bodies were discovered later that day, while police say Toller likely died about five days earlier.

Police allege all three were killed by 25-year-old Dustin Duthie, who was Boshuk’s son and Pennylegion’s stepson. Police believe Duthie was in a relationship with Toller.

Boshuk and Pennylegion have several other children, and a family spokesperson said they have been “torn apart” by the deaths. Duthie has been charged with three counts of second-degree murder.

Jason David Peter Greyeyes, 48

Greyeyes was reported missing in early August and his body was found on Aug. 26 in the 21000 block of Sheriff King St. S.W. Two young people, who can’t be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, were arrested in Halifax and charged with first-degree murder. No more details about the accused or whether they knew Greyeyes have been released because it could risk identifying them.

Vinh Duc Chung, 63

Chung died nearly two weeks after an assault near the Calgary Drop-in Centre on Sept. 21. Thirty-six-year-old Tyler Scott Ryan Lindsay originally faced aggravated assault charges in the case, but they were upgraded to manslaughter after Chung’s death.

Mohsen Al Nemesh, 22

The 13th homicide of the year was a double shooting that also left a 20-year-old man injured in the city’s Signal Hill neighbourhood. Al Nemesh was pronounced dead at the scene Oct. 12. Police have asked for help finding a man they say is a person of interest in the case, but so far, no one has been charged.

Aram Nadiri, 19

Calgary’s youngest homicide victim of the year was also killed in a shooting. Nadiri was found dead in a southeast Calgary home on Oct. 24, and police say they believe he and his assailant knew each other — but no one has been arrested or charged in the case.

Rofas Ibrahim Sheikeldin, 37

Sheikeldin died in hospital on Nov. 25 after a “physical altercation” that police said involved more than 20 people at the downtown Paranoia nightclub. Cordelius Harrison, 29, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder two days later.

Roy Chi Yan Mac, 38

Police were called to a home in Calgary’s northwest on Dec. 17 where Mac was found with gunshot wounds. He died in hospital a day later. Police have not arrested anyone, but they say that they believe the shooting was “targeted.”

Sylina Ann Curley, 43

Curley was found at the Red Carpet Inn in the Montgomery neighbourhood. Police say Curley was in a relationship with 38-year-old Cliffton James Spotted Eagle, the man now charged with killing her. Spotted Eagle had been sharing a room at the motel with Curley, and he was arrested after Curley was found dead on the morning of Dec. 21.

Correction — Jan. 2, 2019: A previous version of this article misstated the number of homicides in Calgary in the past three years and omitted the killing of Rofas Ibrahim Sheikeldin. In fact, 30 homicides were recorded in both 2016 and 2017, and 2018 saw 17 homicides.

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