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Recent violence in Saskatoon’s Pleasant Hill neighbourhood has people on edge, but their fear is starting to give way to frustration.
There have been five shootings in and around the community over the past week. One of those shootings led to the death of a 31-year-old man on Avenue Q South.
Despite a stepped-up police presence since the last shooting, Alia Raja said she’s had enough and is preparing to move her family out of the neighbourhood.
“I can’t stay in this area, it’s very dangerous.”
Raja and her family made there way to Saskatoon three years ago to escape violence in Iraq. Since arriving she said the family car has been stolen, one of her children was stabbed with a piece of glass and she herself was nearly attacked. “I’m not comfortable in this area and my children too,” she said, adding one of her sons is having problems sleeping.
The family is trying to find a new place to live in the city, but Raja said they may end up leaving the city all together.
Another woman who lives in the area told 650 CKOM she is taking steps to keep herself safe. She asked to remain anonymous out of concern for her safety.
“When we leave home, we leave all the lights on, so it looks like someone is home. We have dogs,” she said.
Along with those measures, she said she always makes sure to have someone watching her home whenever she leaves.
“You make sure you let your neighbours know, even if you are just going for groceries, like I just did. I called my neighbour and said, ‘hey, I’m just running out for groceries, just keep an eye on the house.”
Having lived in Pleasant Hill for 11 years, she said she’s not only concerned about the amount of crime, but the type of crime she is seeing.
“It use to be knives when we first moved here and at least you could see the knives coming, but now it’s the guns,” she said.
She described a violent incident that happened last year, just down the street from her home.
“A vehicle pulled up and one guy jumped out of the SUV and went running up to the door [of the house], and started popping them,” she said.
Since that incident, she said she has made a point of getting to know the people on her street; she knows who lives where and who is doing what.
She has also helped organize a Citizens on Patrol Program so that there are more eyes and ears out on the street during off hours.
“You can only do so much before we start fighting back,” she said.