The Claresholm highway shooting was a

murder–suicide A murder-suicide is an act in which an individual kills one or more persons either before or while killing themselves. The combination of murder and suicide can take various forms: * Murder linked with suicide of a person with a homicidal idea ...

that occurred on December 15, 2011, on

Alberta Highway 2 Alberta Provincial Highway No. 2, commonly referred to as Highway 2 or the Queen Elizabeth II Highway, is a major highway in Alberta that stretches from the Canada–United States border through Calgary and Edmonton to Grande ...

, just north of

Claresholm Claresholm is a town located within southern Alberta, Canada. It is located on Highway 2, approximately northwest of the City of Lethbridge and south of the City of Calgary. One of the Famous Five involved in the Persons Case, Louise McKinn ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Canada. The suspect, 21-year-old Derek Jensen, killed three people with a

Heckler & Koch Heckler & Koch GmbH (HK; ) is a German defense manufacturing company that manufactures handguns, rifles, submachine guns, and grenade launchers. The company is located in Oberndorf am Neckar in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, and als ...

9mm handgun, then turned the gun on himself. Jensen killed his ex-girlfriend, Tabitha Stepple, and two men she was travelling with, who were part of the

Lethbridge Bulls The Lethbridge Bulls are a Summer college baseball team playing at Spitz Stadium in Lethbridge, Alberta. The team is a member of the Western Canadian Baseball League, a collegiate summer baseball league operating in the prairie provinces of Ca ...

baseball team.

Background

The suspect, 21-year-old Derek Jensen, grew up in Lethbridge. Prior to the massacre he was training to become a paramedic in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anc ...

. He had met his ex-girlfriend, 21-year-old Tabitha Stepple in a downtown Lethbridge nightclub. The couple had moved into a basement suite together, but after mounting tensions between them, they eventually split sometime around Halloween. Despite the split the two of them still lived together. No domestic relationship violence had ever been reported and neither Stepple or Jensen were known to the police.

Shooting

On the night of December 14, 2011, a group of Jensen's friends took him out to a pub in Lethbridge. Inside, Jensen came across Stepple, who was visiting with two other men, 20-year old Mitch Maclean and 22-year-old Tanner Craswell. The two of them were rising baseball stars who had moved to Lethbridge from

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

to play for the

baseball team. 21-year-old Shayna Conway was also with them, and was the girlfriend of Craswell, who was out celebrating his 22nd birthday. Stepple was with them because she worked with Conway. Enraged at seeing his ex-girlfriend with other men, Jensen confronted Stepple and pushed her out of a chair. After an argument between them, Jensen and his friends left the bar and headed to a nearby club, before Jensen left, telling his friends he was heading home. Meanwhile, Maclean and Craswell had plans to leave Lethbridge after celebrating Craswell's birthday. The two of them had a 5 a.m. flight out of

Calgary International Airport Calgary International Airport , branded as YYC Calgary International Airport, is an international airport that serves the city of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is located approximately northeast of downtown and covers an area of 20.82 square ...

for Prince Edward Island, as they were returning home for Christmas. Stepple and Conway were to drive them to the airport in Stepple's

Ford Escape The Ford Escape is a compact crossover SUV sold by Ford since 2000 over four generations. The first generation was jointly developed with Mazda which also created the Mazda Tribute and Mercury Mariner as the twin model. Second generations of t ...

. The four of them left Lethbridge around midnight and eventually drove north towards

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

airport along

Highway 2 The following highways are numbered 2. For roads numbered A2, see list of A2 roads. For roads numbered B2, see list of B2 roads. For roads numbered M2, see list of M2 roads. For roads numbered N2, see list of N2 roads. International * AH2, As ...

. Jensen was also driving north on Highway 2 in his green Pontiac Sunfire in search of Stepple. After the argument in the pub, Jensen had reportedly kept phoning Stepple and had told her "This night's not going to end well for you, I hope you know that". In

, Jensen located the group at a

7-Eleven 7-Eleven, Inc., stylized as 7-ELEVE, is a multinational chain of retail convenience stores, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The chain was founded in 1927 as an ice house storefront in Dallas. It was named Tote'm Stores between 1928 and 1946. ...

convenience store. The four of them had stopped there briefly at around 3 a.m. on the morning of December 15. Surveillance video showed that the group were unaware Jensen was there and there was no confrontation between them. Moments after leaving the store, at around 3:30 a.m., the group was travelling north on Highway 2 when Jensen rammed the back of their SUV in his car. They were positioned just north of Claresholm and approximately 130 kilometers south of Calgary. Conway stopped the vehicle and got out to confront the driver, unaware it was Jensen. Jensen then jumped out of his vehicle, aimed a 9mm handgun at her and shot Conway three times. He then fired off several rounds into the SUV, striking and killing Stepple and Craswell as they sat in the vehicle. Maclean was also shot, but managed to escape the vehicle. Jensen then turned the gun on himself and took his own life.

Aftermath

The body of Maclean was found by police in a ditch on the east side of the highway. He was rushed to the local Claresholm hospital by ambulance and was then airlifted to

Foothills Medical Centre Foothills Medical Centre (FMC) is the largest hospital in the province of Alberta and is located in the city of Calgary. It is one of Canada's most recognized medical facilities and one of the leading research and teaching hospitals. Foothills Me ...

in Calgary, but died during the transfer on the way there. Conway had been shot three times, but managed to crawl to a cellphone which she used to called 911. She was taken to the Foothills Medical Centre where she underwent surgery. Despite her injuries she made a full recovery. While searching Jensen's vehicle, officers discovered two more firearms. Jensen had also been armed with a

Winchester rifle Winchester rifle is a comprehensive term describing a series of lever action repeating rifles manufactured by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Developed from the 1860 Henry rifle, Winchester rifles were among the earliest repeaters. The M ...

and a loaded

12-gauge The gauge (or commonly bore in British English) of a firearm is a unit of measurement used to express the inner diameter (bore diameter) of the Gun barrel, barrel. Gauge is determined from the weight of a solid sphere of lead that will fit the b ...

shotgun. All three of the weapons owned by Jensen had been registered. Officers also seized another firearm and additional ammunition from Jensen's home in Lethbridge.

Legacy

In 2013,

CTV CTV may refer to: Television * Connected TV, or Smart TV, a TV set with integrated internet North America and South America * CTV Television Network, a Canadian television network owned by Bell Media ** CTV 2, a secondary Canadian televisio ...

aired an hour-long documentary about the killings titled ''Road to Murder''. The documentary was produced and directed by Larry Day, and hosted by CTV news anchor

Lloyd Robertson Lloyd Robertson (born January 19, 1934) is a Canadian journalist and former news anchor who is special correspondent on CTV's weekly magazine series, '' W5''. Robertson served as the chief anchor and senior editor of CTV's national evening new ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Claresholm highway massacre 2011 in Alberta Attacks in Canada in 2011 December 2011 crimes December 2011 events in Canada Mass murder in Alberta Mass shootings in Canada Murder–suicides in Canada Spree shootings in Canada Suicides by firearm in Alberta 2011 murders in Canada

Background

Shooting

Aftermath

Legacy

See also

References