Body found after gunshots fired at north Edmonton townhouse complex

Edmonton police are investigating a homicide at a townhouse complex near 89 Street and 148 Avenue in the north end after responding to reports of gunshots in the area just before 10:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Police found a man in his late 20s with gunshot wounds lying next to a dumpster in a parking lot at the complex.  He was pronounced dead on the scene.

Long-time residents of the area said Wednesday they weren't surprised.

"I knew something was going to go down sooner or later 'cause people are running around here," said Tanya Penny. "It's like a drug war in here."

Penny, who lives close to where the body was discovered, said she heard gunshots Tuesday night.

"I thought somebody was throwing snowballs or something at my window,"  she said.

Penny has lived in the complex for 10 years and said the community has deteriorated since she first moved in. 

"I won't go outside at night. I won't," she said. "And my son won't go outside anymore at nighttime. Once the sun goes down, he's in the house."

Her neighbour, Annette Peppler, echoed her sentiments.

"I've lived here for almost 11 years, and I've watched this neighbourhood go from not so bad to really bad," she said.

Peppler said she doesn't know many of her neighbours anymore.

"There was a time we used to have barbecues out here and get together,"  she said.

The investigation was in its early stages, and there were no suspects, said Staff Sgt. Jamie Ewatski.

"We're interviewing people who live in the … complex, anybody who had seen or heard anything at all," he said.

This is the second discovery of a body in Edmonton in 24 hours.

The body of man was discovered Tuesday in Grand Trunk Park near 109 Street and 130 Avenue just before 9:30 a.m.

Homicide detectives are treating the discovery as a suspicious death.

An autopsy was scheduled for Wednesday morning.