Mom wary of city’s gun crimes after son’s car shot up

More than two weeks after the fact, a Regina mom is still waiting to know why her son’s car was shot at while he was driving in the city’s east end.

“That night was the worst night I could ever imagine,” she said.

980 CJME has agreed not to identify the woman because the seemingly random shooting remains unsolved, and she’s worried about retribution from the alleged shooter for speaking out.

At about a quarter to midnight on July 13, “(her son) texts me and he goes, ‘Mom, I was shot at.’ ”

She didn’t believe it at first; her son just got his licence and his car two days before. He was driving his female friend home; the friend was in the passenger seat.

When he pulled up to a red light at Victoria Avenue East and Fleet Street, the suspect vehicle pulled up beside his car, the mom said.

A report from the Regina Police Service says there were four adults in the car — an Indigenous man driving and three heavy-set Indigenous women. All looked to be in their 30s or 40s.

They were taunting the young man and he tried ignoring it, his mom said.

“When the light turned green, he noticed they were following him. He was going in and out of the Glencairn-area avenues, by Johnson (Collegiate) and the little crescents,” the mom said.

“He looked at me, and he goes, ‘Mom, I was flying down Fleet to try to get away from them, and I couldn’t.’ ”

As he got closer toward Ring Road, the 19-year-old looked and saw the driver level a handgun at him.

“He said, ‘Wow, this is really effing happening.’ And he just heard the gun going off,” his mom recounted.

The damage was frightening. Three bullets hit the car; none of them hit her son or his friend.

The first was on the young woman’s side, at about waist level. A photo of the bullet hole seems to show the support pillar between the front and back seats stopping the bullet.

The second bullet hole is on the rear passenger door, lower down toward the floor.

The young man’s mom said they hadn’t realized there was a third bullet hole until they were getting the car appraised at an SGI garage.

It was under the rear wheel well on the passenger side. The thought of the damage the third bullet could have done was scary, his mom said.

“That thing could have went through, and you know, blew up my kid,” she said, referencing the car’s gas tank.

She recalled getting up the next day and touching the bullet holes on the car.

“It was surreal to see it, like right there,” she said. “I touched them. I’m like, ‘Wow.’ Then I broke down crying; I could have lost my son that night.”

Now in her 40s, the mom says Regina isn’t the same as when she grew up, both in North Central and Glencairn.

She remembered when North Central was free of the violence and drug crimes that often happen there nowadays.

She said it’s shocking to see more gun crimes happening in the city, especially as they occur in the east end and other areas outside of North Central.

“Where are all these guns coming from? Why are they so easily accessible to people?” she said.

Since May 9, there have been at least 10 police-reported shootings in Regina this year.

When reached for comment about the car shooting incident, the Regina Police Service declined to comment. It said its policy is not to comment on ongoing investigations.

The police service said that the officer’s report from the night of the car shooting doesn’t indicate that it was a targeted one.

As for the young man whose car got shot up, he’s still dealing with the impact of that night.

He’s a lot more cautious around new people, and he’s keeping to himself, his mom said.

“It really shook him,” she said. “It shook him to the core, and he was scared.”