Melville motel owner still piecing things together following deadly shooting

Tony Singh was still trying to figure things out Thursday.

The owner of the Country Inn motel in Melville — the scene of a shooting Wednesday that left one man dead and another injured — recalled getting help recently from one of the victims when Singh was doing some renovations on the building.

“I remember exactly a month ago, the guy who was shot dead, he gave me a hand to offload a big chest freezer because he was a tall, 6-foot-3, 23 to 24 (years old), young-age guy,” Singh told Gormley guest host Taylor MacPherson. “That scene came in front of me and, wow, it’s so sad.

“It’s not normal. I’ve been running these businesses for the last 10 years and Melville is not the place for this kind of thing — and not even Saskatchewan.”

The RCMP said Wednesday that officers responded to reports of shots being fired in the area of the motel just before 9:20 a.m. A dangerous person alert was issued at around 10:30 a.m., as the Mounties searched for two suspects.

The alert was cancelled just after 1:30 p.m., even though the suspects remained at large.

The RCMP said the alert was cancelled because the situation didn’t present an imminent risk to the public. As well, the Mounties noted their investigation had determined the shooting wasn’t believed to be random in nature.

Singh recounted the events at the motel.

“My front desk supervisor, a girl ran to him and knocked on his door — he’s in the manager’s suite — and told him to call 911,” Singh said. “Then everything was shocking … It exactly happened at 9:13, so they were gone by 9:14 or 9:15.”

Paramedics and police descended on the motel, with EMS offering medical aid and Mounties beginning their investigation.

“There was caution tape around the building and every person who was passing by (on) the highway is thinking ‘Something has happened,’ ” Singh said. “It was so sad.”

He noted the motel was able to allow some guests to stay in their rooms Wednesday night, but others had to be relocated in order to accommodate the investigation.

“We understand (police) are doing their job and we don’t wandering around by any guests to lose any evidence,” Singh said. “But the other part of the building is all good, so (police) said, ‘Yeah, you can accommodate (people).’ ”

The RCMP hasn’t released any details since Wednesday afternoon, including an update on the two suspects and the status of the injured man. In the meantime, residents of the city are still reeling from the incident.

“The businesses in Melville, the people are shocked. The schools (and the people at) the other offices were totally shocked,” Singh said. “It’s a shock for everyone.”