Police have identified the man who killed himself after shooting a Stettler woman on Monday.
The dead man has been identified as Dustin Goddu, 31, of Red Deer. Police found his body and the gun next to him in a rural area near Coronation, where the gunman fled to after shooting a woman in Stettler.
The woman was airlifted to Calgary where she is being treated for a bullet to the shoulder.
A standoff between police and the man ended on Monday evening. Police say the man shot and killed himself while he was in a treed area approximately two km east of the community of Fleet on Hwy 12 between Coronation and Castor.
The man is believed to have shot and wounded a woman in Stettler — about 80 km east of Red Deer — that morning, setting off a manhunt.
The woman is being identified as 39-year-old Krista Dryden. Family members say she did not know the shooter, which is raising questions about what prompted what appears to be a random attack.
“There is no indication at this time that they were (known to one another),” said RCMP Staff Sgt. Shawn Lemay on Tuesday.
Dryden was shot shortly before 9 a.m. She was walking along a the Stettler road, moments after she dropped off a lawnmower at a Stettler repair shop.
She was transported by STARS air ambulance to the Foothills Hospital in Calgary, where she was treated with what police initially called non-life-threatening injuries.
Police located the man shortly after the shooting but he fled from officers. They were ultimately able to contain him to the forested area.
“We were trying to get him to come out and affect a peaceful arrest without incident,” Lemay said.
The standoff, in the east end of Clearview Public School Division’s area, prompted school lockdowns in Byemoor, Brownfield, Castor and Coronation.
Superintendent of Schools John Bailey said they heard from the RCMP about an hour before school was dismissed where buses could go and where they couldn’t. It was safe to send all the students home expect for four families located in the area where the suspect was contained.
“We had to divert a couple of buses because they had an area cordoned off so we worked with those families and our bus drivers,” Bailey said on Tuesday.
“We took back roads and diverted and were able to get kids home.
“Things went smoothly and we are very happy about that given the magnitude of what was going on.”
Police say further details surrounding the incident cannot be released until after their investigation is complete.
jjones@www.reddeeradvocate.com