Mountie shares update on investigation into fatal shooting on highway near Weyburn

A 44-year-old woman was shot and killed on Friday evening on a highway near Weyburn, and the Saskatchewan RCMP says there are still more questions than answers in the case.

The woman was a passenger in a Ford Explorer SUV that was travelling on Highway 39 northwest of Weyburn at around 8 p.m. on Friday when she was struck by a bullet fired from behind the moving vehicle. The victim, a resident of Weyburn, died at the scene, and the RCMP said the early investigation indicated the shooting may have been “random in nature.”

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Joshua Graham, the superintendent in charge of Saskatchewan RCMP Major Crimes, joined the Evan Bray Show on Monday morning to share an update on the investigation.

Listen to the full interview with Joshua Graham:

“Everybody wants to know what happened that led to this tragic death,” Graham said.

“This is a suspicious death investigation,” he added.

“I know people may be asking what the difference is, and technically it is a homicide investigation in that she didn’t die from suicide or some other accidental thing, but we don’t know whether or not this act was intentional, and that it was specifically a murder or something like that. So we are investigating it similarly, like we would with a murder, covering all our bases.”

Graham said “extensive” searches of the area over the weekend didn’t turn up any clues, despite help from search-and-rescue personnel. He said RCMP officers also spoke with landowners and employees at a nearby grain elevator.

“To date, we haven’t found any physical evidence in those searches that would help us in this investigation,” he said.

Graham said the Mounties have received plenty of tips from the public, which helped them locate the drivers of a white truck and a truck pulling a trailer that were reportedly in the area around the time of the shooting.

He said ballistic experts are also working to determine where the shot was fired from and the trajectory of the bullet, but that work takes time to complete and is still ongoing.

“Lots has been done thus far, but definiutely the questions remain. What happened? And was, ultimately, this a murder?” Graham said.

Asked why the victim has not been identified by the RCMP, Graham said the privacy of both victims and their families is always the police force’s top concern. While identities will sometimes be released if information related to the victim could shed light on an investigation, Graham said there was no reason to believe it would help in this case.

Graham said the Mounties have received plenty of tips from the public, which helped them locate the drivers of a white truck and a truck pulling a trailer that were reportedly in the area around the time of the shooting. (Gillian Massie/980 CJME)

“Our investigators are confident that there was nothing specific with either of the women inside the vehicle that would lead to suspicious circumstances… (or) that this was a targeted killing or act of violence toward either of them,” Graham said.

“Obviously something happened that led to a shot being fired into this vehicle, but at this point we don’t feel that releasing the victim’s identity would further the investigation. That may change as the course of time unfolds, but at this point we’re not ready to release that.”

Bray asked Graham why the Mounties did not issue a public alert after the shooting, and the RCMP superintendent said that’s a very common question for police.

“That is kind of the soundtrack for the policing in Saskatchewan over these last three years, unfortunately,” he said.

“That’s something that we carefully examined and considered, but really at that point we didn’t quite know what we had in terms of the investigation. As well, we had no real information to give to the public to be on the lookout for.”

He said the public will be alerted if a safety risk identified, arrests are made in the case or if police need additional help from potential witnesses.

Graham thanked everyone who has provided information to police in the aftermath of the shooting.

“At the end of the day, our homicide investigators’ job is to put all those different pieces of the puzzle together to make the picture. And the public, and people providing that information, are huge pieces within that puzzle,” he said.

“If there’s something that people see, hear or know, or maybe they have a conversation about maybe somebody who was out shooting a gun around that time, that’d be something the investigators would certainly like a call on.”

In an update issued later on Monday morning, the RCMP said officers will be speaking to local businesses in the area on Monday, and asked anyone who has security footage of the area to get in touch with police.

In an update issued later on Monday morning, the RCMP said officers will be speaking to local businesses in the area on Monday, and asked anyone who has security footage of the area to get in touch with police. (Gillian Massie/980 CJME)

“Investigators are asking the public and business owners – particularly those with buildings or homes along Highway #39 into Weyburn and Highway #13 – to check video surveillance or house/doorbell camera footage between 7:45 and 8:30 p.m. Friday, September 12, 2025,” the RCMP said in a statement.

“If you note any suspicious people or vehicles or anything out of the ordinary, please call and report it.”