Court documents in the case of a shooting at a mall in Vancouver, Canada allege that the man responsible donned a Joker mask while Trick-or-treating with his family. The claim is also backed up by surveillance video that shows suspect Travis Ward, 32, stalking his victim before shooting him repeatedly at point-blank range.
The shooting occurred at the mall on Thursday which was instantly flooded by officers when it was reported that someone had opened fire on the second-floor food court during a family trick-or-treating event. When authorities arrived, it was reported that they found one person dead and two others injured.
According to NBC affiliate KWG, police said that the man who had died perished due to “obvious gunshot wounds.” The outlet reported that the officers initially did not make any arrests at the scene. Police further stated that the other two victims reportedly received glancing blows by either stray bullets or fragments to the left torso and left foot. Both men were treated at the hospital and released.
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On Monday, police named James A. Perez as the man killed in the shooting. Speaking with the outlet, one of the victims Brandon Leyrer recalled that he was at the mall with his girlfriend and her two daughters and their father, Daniel Martin.
“I’m just sitting there looking at our 3-year-old, giggling and having fun and the shots went off,” Leyrer said. According to the girl’s mother, Micaela Martin, the entire moment felt surreal.
“It was kind of a really surreal moment, because for those first few shots, it was like the room paused,” Micaela said. “Everything paused because everyone was trying to figure out what this was. When the shots kept going, it was like somebody pressed play on life and everyone just scattered and dove under the tables.”
According to Leyer, he still has a bullet lodged in his chest but is not in any immediate danger. Micaela later revealed that her ex-husband was the man who had been shot in the foot.
“Somewhere in the mix of getting our little one, I remember holding my chest … but in the mix of going across the main walkway down-range of where the shooter was is when I got hit,” Leyrer said. “I know by the time I got to Danny, I checked on him, ‘Hey are you hit? How are you?’ He’s like, ‘I’m hit. I’m hit, too.'”
According to the mother of the two children, the shooting has had a profound impact on them. “They’re very sensitive to sound right now. Any little thing that drops, pops, snaps, they’re at attention, like ‘Are we safe?’ They immediately look for me to make sure everything is safe. It’s heartbreaking,” she said.
Police stated in an affidavit that they were able to identify Ward through the use of the mall’s security cameras and that right before the shooting, Ward was wearing blue track pants with white stripes, black shoes, a black hoodie along with the Joker mask. in the footage, Ward can be seen following the victim before shooting him “in the back of the head at point-blank range” and continuing to shoot him after he fell.
It was reported that Perez and his girlfriend had come to the mall with the man’s autistic son and were searching for the boy when shots rang out. After managing to get a picture of Ward off the security cam footage, police distributed the pictures and were rewarded when a woman called saying that she knew who the man was.
“(She) initially indicated that only the above-described females were at the location and did not know why her photo was being circulated by law enforcement,” the affidavit states. “When informed that surveillance footage showed her with the above-described male, she stated that the male with her was her boyfriend, Travis Ward.”
According to the girlfriend, she, Ward and his mother had been at the mall and “she was not aware that Ward had shot anyone.” After arresting the man, it was stated that he “would not admit or offer any explanation as to why he had shot and killed (the victim).” Ward is set to return to court on November 7.
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