‘It’s worrisome:’ SPS officer discusses violent, firearm-related incidents and their link to gangs

Saskatoon police have been dealing with an increase in violent, firearms-related cases over the past several months, including incidents involving gangs.

That from Saskatoon Police Service Staff Sgt. Grant Obst, who is the head of the street crime section which includes the drugs, guns and gangs, and serious assault units.

“The prevailing feeling over the last several months is that we have seen a considerable amount of (weapon-)related crime,” Obst told 650 CKOM.

“In the last number of years, and again, probably in (the) most recent last couple of years, we’ve seen the prevalence of firearms on the street.”

Obst says that is concerning for the units he heads. In many cases, he says the firearms are sawed-off, including shotguns or .22-calibre rifles.

“In the last week or so, our guns and gangs team have taken at least three illicit firearms off the street. I think we’ve taken probably 35 or 40 this year — and I’m not talking about our patrol section; they’ve taken a fair number as well,” he said.

“Obviously, it’s worrisome.”

Multiple calls, including two murders, have kept Saskatoon police busy in recent weeks.

“We had a heck of a weekend,” Obst explained, referring to the violent crime within Saskatoon.

In regards to the murder of 18-year-old Dartagnan Whitehead on Saturday morning on the 100 block of Avenue K South, Obst says there is “no doubt” in the investigators’ minds that a gang aspect was involved in the shooting.

“There’s information from investigators that that was — I’ll call it gang-motivated. I don’t know if they’ve defined, or that they’ve figured out, (if) there was a specific individual that was targeted. If you can think about this, sometimes people are targeted just because of the gang that they’re involved in, not so much the specific person,” he explained.

Obst also explained that just because Saskatonians don’t necessarily see gun-related violence doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

“The average Saskatoon citizen’s likely not going to come into contact with that type of thing,” he said. “Anytime there (are) firearms at play, there’s always the chance that an innocent party is going to get involved.”

As for the rate of these gang calls, and gang initiation calls for police, Obst says he wouldn’t classify these instances as “gang wars,” and there’s no evidence to show that the incidents are co-ordinated.

“I would certainly not use the word ‘war’ and I’ve got nothing to indicate that there’s been any sort of change with respect to (gang) initiation. There’s always been issues with gangs, or there has been for years, in Saskatoon,” he said.

“Is there dissension? Is there conflict? Is there animosity? Yeah, absolutely. There’s gangs out there that don’t like each other.”

He also added there “isn’t a day that goes by” that a situation involving pepper or bear spray doesn’t occur within Saskatoon.

As for where these incidents are happening, Obst says police tend to see more of it within the core areas, but it’s happening everywhere.

“There are certain parts of the city where our violent crime is more prevalent,” he said. “But to say there are any parts of the city that are off limits? No.”

Investigations are ongoing into both Saturday murders in Saskatoon. Those involved the deaths of both Whitehead and 19-year-old Hailey Belanger-Weeseekase.

If you have any information on these or any other crimes in the city, contact Saskatoon police or CrimeStoppers.