What the heck is happening in Langdon these days?
For decades, the small hamlet in southeast Rocky View County was able to avoid the types of grim headlines usually reserved for big cities, but in recent times, that has unfortunately not been the case.
Last week, our newsroom received a press release about a homicide in Langdon (see story on page 7). A female victim was found unresponsive after Mounties responded to a 911 call. She later died of her injuries in hospital.
According to RCMP, a 31-year-old male was taken into custody and carriage of the case has been taken over by Alberta RCMP's Major Crimes Unit.
For a small community like Langdon, a homicide is a shocking news story. With a little over 5,000 residents, it's likely that most people in the hamlet know each other, and will be mourning the victim of this crime, alongside her family members.
While the two incidents are not related, it did stick out that this latest incident is the second reported murder in Langdon within the last eight months. Last October, we reported on the targeted shooting of former gang member Trong Minh Nguyen, who had relocated to Langdon after his release from prison earlier that year.
Just a few weeks later, the body of a homicide victim was found in a burning car near Langdon.
Before these two incidents, Langdon was sheltered from murders and big-city crime for decades. After Nguyen's murder in October, we asked the hamlet's council representative, Al Schule, if he could recall any homicides in his 35 years of residency in Langdon. He responded only one incident 20 years ago came to mind. We also asked Strathmore RCMP's detachment commander when the last murder in Langdon was, and he said it would have had to be before 2005, which is when the detachment upgraded its record-keeping system.
Considering its proximity to a major urban centre, it's not surprising to see big-city crime land on Langdon's doorstep. But that doesn't make it any less shocking.
