Two dead, two others injured in suspicious incident on Southern Alberta highway

CLARESHOLM, Alta. – A busy stretch of Southern Alberta highway remains closed as RCMP investigate the suspicious deaths of two people.

Sgt. Patrick Webb, an RCMP spokesman, says Highway 2 near Claresholm has been shut down in both directions as their major crimes unit investigates the area at Township Road 130.

Two people have been confirmed dead and two others have been critically injured.

Webb says two vehicles were discovered overnight along the northbound lanes of the four-lane divided highway just north of the town.

"At this time, as is normal procedure, we are investigating this as if it is a...homicide," Webb said Thursday. "That simply is to gather all the possible evidence at the scene.

"But this is very highly suspicious, so we are definitely treating it as a murder investigation."

At 3:21 a.m., STARS air ambulance transported a man from Claresholm Hospital to Foothills Hospital in critical condition.

"We did respond to the hospital in Claresholm. We received a male patient who we transported to Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary. That patient was in critical condition with life threatening injuries while en route to hospital," said STARS spokesman Cameron Heke.

Heke said he couldn't comment further on the man's age or injuries.

RCMP say another person was also taken to Foothills Hospital by ambulance.

Claresholm Mayor David Moore says authorities have told him they have a suspect in custody, however, RCMP have not confirmed.

“According to them, there’s a suspect in custody,” Moore said. “They assured me there was no danger.”

Moore says the town of 3,700 residents is stunned by the incident.

“We don’t have anything like this happen in Claresholm. It’s a pretty huge event for a town of our size.”

There is no word on whether any weapons were found at the site, about 130 km south of Calgary. Investigators are not yet releasing what killed the victims but say they have a good idea of what transpired.

During a media briefing Thursday morning, Webb told reporters RCMP have “nobody named as a suspect or person of interest.”

“Our investigators at the scene have a pretty good idea of what happened there. Can’t go into details exactly. We’ll be able to put it out later, explain more about why it’s at that location and what happened.”

RCMP are treating the highway location at the “only major scene”, though Webb said it’s too early to completely rule out other locations linked to the incident.

Up to 15 investigators, including members of identification and major crimes sections, are working the scene.

The affected stretch of Highway 2 runs for four kilometres north and south of Claresholm. Webb says detours are in place as Highway 2 will be closed for several hours.

View Claresholm investigation in a larger map

With files from Postmedia News