The death of a 31-year-old man in the Village Mall parking lot is believed to be Red Deer’s first homicide in two years.
Alan Beach is believed to have been stabbed in the parking near the Blarney Stone Pub & Restaurant and other businesses late Wednesday night around 9 p.m. He died later of his wounds in hospital.
A Blarney Stone Pub and Restaurant manager, who did not wish to be named, said the man was not stabbed inside the pub, but people had brought the man inside for help after the incident.
A bartender called an ambulance for the man.
“Somebody just carried him inside because it was cold that day,” she said. “They just brought him inside to get treatment.”
She said the bar was closed down while people tried to help the victim.
The RCMP’s Serious Crimes branch is now assisting with the continuing investigation.
Police are seeking witnesses that may have seen something that night.
A Gofundme.com fundraising page has been set up in the name of Beach. According to the page, Beach, who is originally from Creston, B.C. was a father of two young boys.
“Alan Beach was a hard worker, loving father, wonderful son and a great brother, he was friends to countless and would always be there to lend a hand or to listen,” according to the page.
Last year there were no reported murders but in 2013 and 2012 there were four in Red Deer.
Only a year before, Red Deer earned the Canada’s homicide capital moniker from The Huffington Post with six homicides.
On Jan.1, 2013, Lloyd Robert Sarson, 25, of no fixed address, died from gunshot wounds in an Eastview alley, according to the medical examiner’s autopsy report. A 17-year-old youth was charged with first-degree murder in Vancouver. The now 19-year-old will be in court in November 2016 to face his charges.
On May 3, Curtis Leroy Rangen, 43, of Red Deer was found in a chest freezer at his Potter’s Hands apartment 61st Street and 58th Avenue in Riverside Meadows during a regularly scheduled welfare check.
Mark William Bitterman, 32, will face second-degree murder charges in a three-week judge and jury trial slated to begin in June 2016. Bitterman was originally charged with first degree murder charges which were downgraded following a preliminary hearing earlier this year.
crhyno@www.reddeeradvocate.com