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police say firearm was 'immediately' ruled out as cause of damage to sask. party campaign office

"there is no indication at this time that any other officers, other than the investigating officer, attended the scene," the rps said wednesday.

police 'immediately' ruled out gunfire as source of damage to office
a hole can be seen in the window of the campaign office for saskatchewan party candidate rahul singh (regina northeast) on tuesday, oct. 22, 2024. heywood yu / regina leader-post
editor’s note: on october 24, 2024, the regina police service stated that an officer had, in fact, attended rahul singh’s campaign office on oct. 21, 2024. regina police say statements that a patrolling officer indicated two small holes in a sask. party candidate’s campaign office “appeared to be firearms related” are inaccurate.
it’s still a little early to say what caused the damage to the windows of rahul singh’s office, but it was not a bullet, said regina police service (rps) spokesperson lindsey hoemsen, adding that the determination was made “immediately” by the attending officer on tuesday.
a call went in to the rps around 7:30 p.m. monday to report the incident, which “was deemed a non-emergent call,” said hoemsen on wednesday.
around noon the next day, an officer went to the campaign office and spoke with singh, who is running for the regina northeast constituency, and started the investigation.
“that officer, upon arrival, observed the property damage and determined immediately that it was not the result of a firearm discharge,” said hoemsen. “we know it wasn’t a firearm discharge.”
but shortly before 11:30 a.m. tuesday, the sask. party sent out a news release describing the damage done as “gun shots.”
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in a follow-up email provided tuesday, the sask. party said it reached that conclusion because “initial indication from the patrolling officer was that it appeared to be firearms related.”
when asked for further clarity wednesday, the party said an officer was at the office on monday before the report was made, but singh did not mention that when speaking with media.
and according to police, the staff sergeant and the superintendent in charge of the district both said no officer went to the scene until midday tuesday.
“there is no indication at this time that any other officers, other than the investigating officer, attended the scene,” hoemsen clarified on wednesday.
in his account tuesday, singh said volunteers were coming back to the office monday evening “when they noticed that there was a couple of holes in the windows.”
they called the police right away and “requested an officer to come by and check in,” said singh.
hoemsen said the police are looking for any footage related to the incident as they continue their investigation.
police said there were at least two other calls for service regarding broken windows in that area in the week leading up to the incident. glass on a bus shelter was broken, as were a few car windows along that stretch of road.
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alec salloum
alec salloum

alec salloum is a reporter with the regina leader-post. born and raised in regina, he delivered the newspaper as a child before interning at the post as a university student. he holds a degree from the university of regina and has previously worked as a freelance videographer and as a reporter and producer at cbc saskatchewan. salloum currently works the provincial affairs beat, covering the happenings at the legislative building and all things politics. he is part of the newsroom team that won a national newspaper award in 2023 for breaking news coverage.

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