‘It all happened real fast’: P.A. residents caught in Edmonton mall during lockdown

By Nigel Maxwell

Prince Albert’s Clifford McBeath will likely never forget his 45th birthday.

That’s because McBeath was at West Edmonton Mall on Monday night with his family when an announcement came over the loudspeaker, advising a lockdown was in effect and that everyone should seek shelter at the nearest store.

“It all happened real fast. Everybody rushed into a store and the stores locked up their doors,” McBeath told paNOW.

The McBeath family went to the Oakley store and were taken to a back room. Store staff then turned off the lights.

“Nobody really knew what was happening. But of course while everybody was waiting, everybody was checking their Twitter feeds and stuff like that,” McBeath explained.

Through their devices, shoppers learned a shooting had taken place outside the mall and three people had been taken to hospital. Around 10 p.m., roughly two hours after the lockdown was initiated, shoppers were advised the coast was clear and they could go home.

McBeath recalled the mood in the mall was pretty calm and that everyone handled it very well.

“The lockdown procedure was really fast and efficient and everybody was kept safe so there really wasn’t too much to be afraid of other than the fact it was just a waiting game to make sure the mall was clear before we could exit,” he said.

Noting his young son had a lot of questions, McBeath explained he and his wife answered calmly and made sure not to show fear. McBeath’s smartphone, equipped with games and movies, provided a useful distraction.

“We just tried to normalize it as much as possible,” he said.

Cody Jacob Henry Ahenakew has been living in Edmonton for about a year, but prior to that was living in Prince Albert. Standing on an escalator at the time of the mall announcement, Ahenakew and a friend sought shelter at Michael Kors.

“At first I thought it was a drill so I didn’t think anything too serious was going on, and then about a half hour later I learned it was not a drill and that there was an active shooter,” he said.

Ahenakew, who laid down in the store’s back room, explained he kept busy by calling family and also took steps to secure his safety including blocking the door, and tying a belt around one of the cranks that opens the door.

Ahenakew learned these skills by being exposed to multiple school lockdowns as well as the community-wide order at James Smith Cree Nation last September when multiple stabbings occurred. Ahenakew noted the two incidents felt very similar.

“It was kind of in the way everyone was panicking and you know there’s danger nearby,” he said. “I guess I just tried to keep my fear level low as it’s not going to really help anything or anyone.”

Edmonton police have confirmed the three men taken to hospital suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries. Police also said the shooting happened after an SUV approached four men walking to their car.

Two men collapsed and two others ran back into the mall.

“One (went) into the Wild West shooting range with gunshot wounds and the other fled into the mall and we don’t believe that individual sustained any injuries,” Acting Chief Darren Derko told reporters on Tuesday.

Derko also noted a handgun was found in the mall, and the involved SUV was located. No arrests have been made.

The facility — which includes 800 stores, 100 restaurants, an amusement park, shooting range, skating rink and pirate ship — tightened security in 2015 after it was named a potential target by the al-Qaida-linked terrorist group al-Shabab.

— With files from the Canadian Press