Calgary

1 killed, 1 seriously hurt in New Year's Day shooting in northwest Calgary

One man is dead and another seriously injured following a shooting early New Year's Day in a northwest Calgary neighbourhood, police said Sunday.

Investigators believe the shooting was targeted

A police vehicle is parked outside a dark blue condo building outside of which is a large tree and snow on the ground.
This photograph shows the scene where Calgary police responded on Jan. 1, 2023, to a fatal shooting in the northwest community of Ranchlands. (Omar Sherif/CBC)

One man is dead and another seriously injured following a shooting early New Year's Day in a northwest Calgary neighbourhood, police said Sunday. 

Calgary police say the shooting happened around 3:40 a.m. Sunday on the 6900 block of Ranchero Road N.W., in Ranchlands. 

Responding officers found two men suffering from gunshot wounds. One of them died at the scene, and emergency crews brought the other man to a hospital in critical condition. He was later upgraded to stable condition. 

Investigators believe the shooting was targeted.

Homicide investigators are working to gather CCTV footage and information from witnesses, police said in a release. So far, no arrests have been made. 

Revazi Sonishvili, who lives in the area, says he didn't hear the gunshots, but said that the two victims were driven to the area. 

Sonishvili added that he knew the victim who was killed, saying that he had recently moved from Saskatchewan to Calgary. He said the man had asked him for help finding a job.

"He asked me for work, I kept his number, and he's dead now," Sonishvili said.

Sonishvili, who has lived in Ranchlands for three years, described the neighbourhood as generally safe, although he noted that there was another shooting nearby last year. 

The identity of the man killed has yet to be released, but police say an autopsy is scheduled for early next week.

The shooting marks the first homicide in Calgary in 2023. Last year, the city recorded 26 homicides, the last one happening on Christmas Day. 

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call police at 403-229-1234. Tips can also be submitted anonymously to Crime Stoppers online or by calling 1-800-222-8477.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jonathon Sharp is a digital journalist with CBC Calgary. He previously worked for CBS News in the United States. You can reach him at jonathon.sharp@cbc.ca.

With files from Omar Sherif