More

Ex-boyfriend Saw Victims In Store Before Alberta Highway Shooting

First Posted: 12/17/2011 1:46 pm EST Updated: 05/09/2013 7:14 pm EDT

Derek Jensen, the 21-year-old ex-boyfriend of Tabitha Stepple, was also driving north on Highway 2, apparently looking for Stepple, when he found her and three friends in the 7-Eleven store in Claresholm, Alta., shortly before shooting them and taking his own life, police say.

RCMP released the details leading up to the shooting early Thursday morning along the dark highway in a news release Saturday.

While there was no confrontation at the store, RCMP say minutes after leaving, Jensen rammed the rear end of the vehicle being driven by Shayna Conway, Stepple's friend from work, roughly 1.5 kilometres north of Claresholm, around 3 a.m. MT

Conway stopped the SUV she was driving and got out. It is not known at this time if she was aware who had collided with her. Jensen exited his Pontiac Sunfire as well and shot Conway numerous times with a Heckler & Koch nine-millimetre hand gun, police said.

Jensen then walked up to the vehicle, which still contained Conway's boyfriend, Tanner Craswell, as well as Stepple and Mitchell MacLean. Jensen fired numerous rounds into the car, murdering Craswell and Stepple where they sat.

Although MacLean was also shot, he got out of the vehicle and was later found by police in the east ditch of the highway, a short distance from the SUV.

He was transported by ground ambulance to the Claresholm Hospital where he was later transported via STARS air ambulance to Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary. MacLean succumbed to his injuries before he arrived.

After shooting these four people, Jensen turned his firearm on himself while still at the scene and committed suicide. Two other firearms were located in his vehicle when searched by police: a loaded 12-gauge shotgun and a loaded Winchester rifle.

Conway was the sole survivor in the shooting and is expected to recover.

FOLLOW HUFFPOST CANADA ALBERTA

Related News On Huffington Post:
 

Filed by Jacqueline Delange  | 
 
 
  • Comments
  • 18
  • Pending Comments
  • 0
  • View FAQ
Post Comment Preview Comment
To reply to a Comment: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to.
View All
Favorites
Recency  | 
Popularity
photo
brianmouland
24 Fans
 
11:20 AM on 12/18/2011
So tragic, the victims were so young and around Christmas.Just plain sad
Permalink  |
cowtownab
30 Fans
10:18 AM on 12/18/2011
Women are chattel to Mormon men so it comes as no surprise to me that an unstable one could/would lose it like this Jensen crackpot.
Permalink  |
dlpetrie
0 Fans
04:12 AM on 12/18/2011
Why is it even after this that the conservetive government we have in canada still want's to get rid of the gun laws in this country.PLEASE tell your representitives from your areas to vote no on this back stepping of canadian thinking, we do not need to be like the US where murder seems to be the norm.
Permalink  |
SuperFit
0 Fans
07:15 AM on 12/18/2011
They are not looking to get rid of any laws they are looking to get rid of the Registry. Please tell me how the Registry would have done anything to help prevent this situation.
Permalink  |
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
colpy
197 Fans
07:38 AM on 12/18/2011
First of all, the Conservative gov't is not getting "rid of the gun laws in this country". There will still be strict licensing requirements, and the registration of handguns, and a vast array of other restrictions when the long gun registry is long gone.

Secondly, think about it.....did strict gun laws prevent this awful tragedy??? No.

Thirdly, on a world comparison, the USA has a moderately LOW murder rate...........

Public policy should not be driven by emotional response unsupported by reason.
Permalink  |
viewfromuphere
821 Fans
 
11:05 AM on 12/18/2011
you know, your right......maybe the problem is who's getting the guns to begin with.

I'm so tired of gun proponents just throwing their hands in the air every time something like this goes down. Oh well...what can you do....aaggghhh.

Owning a gun isn't sancroset..it's a privilege you earn. Like driving and god knows I've see drivers who no business being on highway. There are now reports surfacing that maybe this young man had some control issues and just maybe he's been seen shoving his ex around physically and that in itself ought to have got his guns confiscated.

You don't want a registry...FINE....then you come up with some ideas to head off altercations like this one.

I'm sure the families who are going to get to meet those coffins in P.E.I would love to hear them.

Canadian Firearms Centre, 1-800-731-­4000,,,,apparently if one has concerns about a firearm owner behavior one can call. It's no different than seeing bad driving and reporting it.
Permalink  |
polzini
21 Fans
03:14 PM on 12/18/2011
The US has a moderately LOW murder rate??
Well, compared to unstable third-world countries it has, but compared to the western industrialized world (which is a more fair comparison, being that is what the US is supposed to be), it's appallingly high.
It's about 2 1/2 times higher than Canada, and we have a fairly high rate as it is.
Its rate is 4 or 5 times those of Europe.
Permalink  |
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Gav Lafreniere
25 Fans
11:27 PM on 12/17/2011
Friends of Derek Jensen say that "this is not the Derek we knew;" and yet, it is also said that he had a history of "controlling" his ex-g/f and a history of being short tempered. These are clear signs that Derek Jensen was unbalanced, to say the least. This begs the question, what do Derek Jensen's friends, consider a normal relationship if this is not the Derek they knew?
Permalink  |
viewfromuphere
821 Fans
 
11:15 AM on 12/18/2011
to be fair..it's not uncommon in domestic violence for it to well hidden. Maybe Jensen covered well. Maybe the Stepple felt embarrassed and didn't report. Maybe she didn't realize the danger was increasing?

overall as a society we are way too tolerant of violence.
Permalink  |
Seycas
6 Fans
09:17 PM on 12/17/2011
According to co-workers of Tabitha Stepple, she has been worried and afraid of her ex-boyfriend for some time before this happened, but unfortunately none of her concerns were reported to police. Who knows what might have happened if she had spoken to Derek Jensen's parents about his stalking her and texting her threatening messages ... who knows ....
How did one person, barely 21, have so many guns ? even if the one he killed with, was registered to him?? There's something terribly wrong with the system here ...
Permalink  |
Averagedancer
87 Fans
03:01 AM on 12/18/2011
Reporting stalking of husbands/boyfriends with violent tendencies, doesn't make much difference. When women leave abusive relationships, their mortality rates spike. Notice the news stories, in which men kill their intimate partners: they rarely, if ever, occur at the homes of the couples while they are residing together; it's almost always after the woman has left. That's something you don't see in too many brochures. Think about that next time you accuse the victim of domestic violence of enabling their attackers by not leaving when you think they should. And insinuating that the girl is somehow at fault for not reporting the behaviour? The young man had four loaded weapons in his possession at the time of the murders; telling his mommy wouldn't have changed anything, other than he might've killed her, as well.
Permalink  |
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
colpy
197 Fans
10:15 AM on 12/18/2011
Call the Canadian Firearms Centre, 1-800-731-4000.....in the first menu you will be offered a chance to report any concerns you have of any gun owner. And they are the RCMP, and take it VERY seriously.

This is not to blame the young lady, God forbid..........she was not at fault simply because she did not report a man she once cared for.......
Permalink  |
detalumis
33 Fans
08:18 AM on 12/18/2011
Guns are neither here nor there, he would have found some other way to kill her for leaving him. Once you get mixed up with these type of men the police can really not do all that much short of putting you into witness protection.
Permalink  |
eumen17
1 Fans
11:11 AM on 12/18/2011
Guns kill people. I'd like to have seen the killer take on the 4 victims without a gun, lets say a baseball bat. The two guys will just stand around and watch while the perpetrator beats the girls than them (to death) and them himself.
Lets say we come out with a new invention that can kill people instantly if they are doing bad thinks i.e. you expect they are going to kill you. Push the button and they are dead. Everyone should have one - right. Buttons kill people not people.
A gun is a lifetaking dangerous weapon and should be closely controlled if not banned altogether.
Permalink  |
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
donttwit
46 Fans
11:17 AM on 12/18/2011
"....he would have found some other way", but would that other way have killed two bystanders and wounded the third? Not likely. So, your argument doesn't hold.
Permalink  |