RCMP examine a car at the side of Highway #2, 130 kms south of Calgary after two bodies were discovered and two others were taken to hospital in critical condition early this moring.CHRIS BOLIN / FOR THE GLOBE AND MAIL
Derek Jensen was armed with a pistol and two long guns when he attacked his ex-partner and three others on a remote Alberta highway, police said in the first official account of the murder-suicide.
The carnage ended with four dead, including Mr. Jensen, and sent shock-waves across the country.
Slain were Mitch MacLean, 20, Tanner Craswell, 22, both college ballplayers from Prince Edward Island, and Tabitha Stepple, 21, who until recently had been living common-law with Mr. Jensen.
The only survivor was Mr. Craswell's girlfriend, Shayna Conway, who was wounded but is expected to make a full recovery. According to police, she was able to give a statement.
All four victims were shot with the 9-millimetre pistol that Mr. Jensen then turned on himself, RCMP Alberta said in a statement mid-day Saturday. In his vehicle he also had a 12-gauge shotgun and a rifle, both loaded but not used in the rampage. All the firearms were registered.
The statement did not address witness reports of an earlier altercation at a Lethbridge bar between Ms. Stepple and Mr. Jensen. But it did specify that the night of the killings Mr. Jensen had been looking for the vehicle carrying his ex and the others.
The four victims were on their way to Calgary, from which the men were to fly home to PEI for Christmas. The women were planning to drive back to Lethbridge together.
Instead, three of the young lives were snuffed out in a hail of bullets.
Colonel Gray High School in Charlottetown will hold a memorial and a game of catch Monday to honour Mr. MacLean and Mr. Craswell.
The school's website says the game will begin at 3:20 p.m.
Mr. Jensen had found the group at a convenience store in the small Alberta community of Claresholm, police said, though the official account disputed rumours that there had a confrontation there. Not long after, according to police, Mr. Jensen "rammed" the vehicle carrying Ms. Stepple and the others.
"Shayna Conway stopped the vehicle she was driving and exited," police said. "It is unknown at this time if she was aware of who had collided with her. Derek Jensen exited his vehicle as well and shot Shayna Conway numerous times."
According to police, Mr. Jensen then fired "numerous rounds" into the car, killing Mr. Craswell and Ms. Stepple where they sat. Mr. MacLean was hit but managed to get out of the vehicle and was found in a nearby ditch. He died on his way to hospital.
Mr. Jensen killed himself at the scene, police said.
Investigators later seized a fourth firearm from the residence that had been shared between Mr. Jensen and Ms. Stepple. In the statement, police specified that there had been no domestic violence reported due to their relationship or separation.
Mr. Craswell and Mr. MacLean had spent the past year or so in Lethbridge, attending school, going to the local Prairie Baseball Academy and playing summer ball.
It was Mr. Craswell's birthday Wednesday and the pair decided to stay one more night in town before heading to PEI. Then, along with his girlfriend, Ms. Conway, they got a ride to Calgary with Ms. Stepple.
"Those boys had nothing to do with [Derek Jensen] They were in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Kevin Kwame, the pair's landlord and head of the Lethbridge Bulls for whom the victims played.
With reports from Allan Maki, Rod Mickleburgh, Wendy Stueck, Dawn Walton and The Canadian Press
Oliver Moore