Shooter followed ex-girlfriend’s car, rear-ended it before opening fire
Posted December 17, 2011 4:48 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
HIGH RIVER, Alta. – Derek Jensen was angry and armed with three loaded guns when he followed his ex-girlfriend’s car on a southern Alberta highway.
RCMP say Jensen had been looking for Tabitha Stepple along Highway 2, south of Calgary, when he spotted her car at a 7-Eleven store in Claresholm early Thursday.
He continued to follow the car for another 1.5 kilometres, before rear-ending it and opening fire on all four people inside. He then turned the gun on himself.
Sgt. Patrick Webb said Saturday investigators have been able to piece together some details of the shocking murder-suicide, including an apparent motive.
Jensen and Stepple, both 21, had been living together in Lethbridge and recently separated, said Webb. “Jensen was not satisfied with that.”
Webb also said the lone survivor of the shooting, 21-year-old Shayna Conway, is expected to make a full recovery.
Conway was driving her friend’s car that night to take her boyfriend, 22-year-old Tanner Craswell, and Mitch MacLean, 20, to the Calgary airport so they could fly home for Christmas. Conway, Craswell and MacLean are all from Prince Edward Island.
Friends say the group had hours earlier celebrated Craswell’s birthday at a pub in Lethbridge, where they ran into Jensen. There was an argument.
Webb said after Jensen rear-ended the car on the highway, Conway got out first, possibly unaware of who was driving the offending vehicle.
Jensen shot her several times with a handgun, then walked to the car and fired more shots inside, killing Stepple and Craswell.
Webb said MacLean was shot but managed to climb out of the car and crawl a short distance into a ditch.
Webb said MacLean and Conway were both taken to a Calgary hospital, but MacLean died before they arrived.
Conway, well enough to speak to officers at the scene, has since had surgery, he added.
Investigators also found a shotgun and rifle, both loaded, inside Jensen’s car. Police a fourth gun at his home.
Webb said all the firearms were properly registered to Jensen.
