Lamont County family could have been killed by stray bullets, disappointed in lacklustre police response

Lamont County family could have been killed by stray bullets, disappointed in lacklustre police response

A local mother and her toddler were nearly killed when a neighbour’s target shooting session sent stray bullets into the front yard of their farm on Range Road 191 on May 27.

Tamara De Jager was sitting near the garden with her two-year-old son when she heard the gunshots but was not alarmed at first.

“It was about six o’clock p.m., and I could hear the neighbours shooting. It’s very common out here, we do target practice, too,” she said, adding her family has lived on the rural property for more than 10 years.

“Until I felt something whizzing by my head.”

De Jager then heard shots hitting her wooden deck and a nearby chain-link fence and knew what was happening.

“I grabbed my son and we raced up to the house,” she said.

De Jager called her husband, Matthew Gavigan, who was on his way home, and then she called 911.

“The dispatcher could still hear the shots being fired and asked me ‘is that them still firing?’ and I said ‘yes’,” said De Jager, adding the dispatcher instructed her to move to an area of the house with no windows.

Meanwhile, Gavigan located the neighbour who was doing the target practice and spoke to them. He said they were completely unaware of what was happening.

“They thought they were shooting into a hill but didn’t realize my house was just beyond the trees,” he said. “They were apologetic, but what’s an apology going to do?”

De Jager said soon after, she received a call from the Fort Saskatchewan RCMP detachment.

“When the cop first called, he said, ‘So I hear somebody is shooting pellet guns at you?’ And I said, ‘absolutely not. This was a high-powered rifle’,” said De Jager, who estimated at least 50 shots were fired into her front yard from the neighbour’s home half a kilometre away.

“I told them my husband found them and had a chat with them and the cop said ‘Do we need to come out there still?’ I said ‘Yeah absolutely! They just about killed me and my son!’

“They said they were going to head over here and that was the last I spoke to them.”

While still dealing with the emotional trauma of the shooting, the family were still not visited by the RCMP more than 24 hours after the incident occurred.

Gavigan said he was extremely disappointed with the police response.

“I’ve lost all faith in the RCMP, put it that way,” he said.

“I’m not happy. They (neighbours) should be charged with reckless endangerment. They should be charged with reckless discharge of a firearm.”

NOTE: After the Lamont Leader contacted Constable Suzanne Ahlstrom, with RCMP media relations for additional information, the RCMP then made contact with the family to apologize for the lack of appropriate response. De Jager said arrangements were made for a visit from the RCMP for May 29.

Jana Semeniuk
Staff Reporter

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