A known gang member was tracked down and shot with his 11-year-old son outside an Edmonton fast-food restaurant Thursday, police in the city said.
Acting Supt. Colin Derksen told reporters Friday that the boy was not simply caught in the line of fire, but deliberately killed.
A second boy around the same age, a friend of the dead child, was also in the car.
``Thankfully, he was not harmed, physically, anyway,'' Derksen said of the boy who escaped.
Derksen said the lunch-hour shooting at the crowded restaurant and gas station is the latest example of escalating gang violence in the city.
``The landscape has changed out there,'' he said. ``There's no longer any respect for children, families or innocent citizens amongst our gangsters when they carry out violence to further their own interests.''
The dead boy's name was not released, but his father was identified as 41-year-old Harpreet Uppal.