Police say the 19-year-old subject of a Canada-wide warrant has been arrested in Yellowknife after a “completely random” shooting in Edmonton earlier this summer.
In a Wednesday news release, the Edmonton Police Service said Yellowknife RCMP found the suspect, Jackito Guiawan, when they searched a home in the NWT capital in late August.
Guiawan had been wanted after allegedly firing a gun at an 18-year-old woman who came out of her Edmonton apartment in July to ask Guiawan’s acquaintance, who was driving a car, to stop loudly revving its engine in the early hours of the morning.
The woman wasn’t physically injured but “continues to suffer ongoing mental and emotional trauma as a result of the life-threatening encounter,” Edmonton police stated.
“This shooting was determined to be completely random, as the female and the accused are not known to each other.”
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Calling the incident “brazen,” Edmonton police said a joint investigation with RCMP concluded Guiawan had headed to Yellowknife. The August 29 search that located him also turned up three guns and “evidence of drug trafficking,” the news release stated.
Guiawan is charged with four gun-related offences and one other offence.
“This shooting is a prime example of the gun violence in our city that our units are prioritizing. We do not take these public occurrences lightly and will not stop at city limits to apprehend those responsible for gun violence in our city,” EPS Staff Sergeant Eric Stewart was quoted as saying.
Guiawan was also the subject of an RCMP news release in February this year.
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At the time, police in the NWT said officers stopped and searched a vehicle on Highway 3 in which they found 1.9 kg of cocaine, a semi-automatic handgun and a prohibited extended-round magazine.
Guiawan was one of three people arrested and charged. He is next due in Territorial Court on September 24. The NWT docket shows eight charges related to the February arrest and 14 charges related to the August arrest.
“EPS Firearms Examination Unit would like to thank Yellowknife RCMP for their assistance in this investigation,” the Edmonton police news release stated, “in which inter-agency cooperation was critical to the successful conclusion.”
