Leron Andrew John pleaded guilty to two firearms offences connected to the Aug. 21, 2023, shooting at West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, where three people were shot. No one died. The mall was locked down for more than two hours as police treated the incident as an active shooter event and secured its entrances.

John admitted to possessing a weapon without authorization and possessing a firearm while knowing its serial number had been altered or removed. He had also faced charges of discharging a firearm with intent, reckless discharge of a firearm, possessing a prohibited firearm with ammunition, and altering a firearm’s serial number. A sentencing date will be set in the future.

John was arrested in Hay River, Northwest Territories, on Jan. 10, 2025, after police responded to a call at a home about an unrelated matter. Edmonton Police Service had been investigating the shooting and issued a warrant for him in May 2024. He was scheduled to be taken into custody on the Edmonton charges on Nov. 1, 2024, when he had a trial date for unrelated charges in the territory, but he failed to appear in court.

In December 2024, John was named to the BOLO program’s list of Canada’s 25 most wanted people. An earlier announcement by Edmonton police said he had been arrested in the Northwest Territories, but did not say when or how. The force said it had been working with partners in the territory to execute his warrants. In December, investigators described the mall shooting as targeted, saying one group had waited outside for another to leave.

Court documents and an agreed statement of facts provide a detailed account of the events. On the evening of the shooting, John was with four other men who had signed up to shoot handguns at the mall’s Wild West Shooting Centre. While they were inside the mall, a white Chevrolet Trailblazer SUV entered the parking lot and waited about 40 minutes.

At 7:40 p.m., after the group finished at the range, they returned their rented firearms and left the centre. As the men crossed the parking lot toward their vehicle, the white SUV pulled out of a stall and followed them. Someone inside it fired a .45-calibre gun toward the group, whose members ducked behind vehicles.

John then drew a 9 mm handgun he was carrying and fired toward the SUV. After he shot, the SUV pulled up next to him, and he fired six more times. At least three bullets from John hit the SUV, which then left the parking lot. Three of the men who had been with John were shot in the exchange.

Other people, including children, were in the parking lot, but no further injuries were reported. At least four vehicles belonging to people outside either group were struck by stray bullets. The earlier police account said three of the four people in the targeted group were shot and that the incident included a subsequent exchange of gunfire. Edmonton police have not released further details about the group that carried out the attack.

After the shooting, John ran back into the Wild West Shooting Centre with the gun, accompanied by at least one of the men from his group. That man collapsed on the floor from his injuries. John continued into the mall carrying the firearm, and security placed the mall under lockdown after receiving reports from police about 911 calls concerning the shooting.

Thousands of people were inside the mall when it was locked down, according to court documents. Surveillance video showed John entering a jewellery store and joining other people there. He later left the store and walked through the mall’s common area. Video captured him discarding an item in a garbage can, which investigators later identified as the handgun and an additional firearm magazine.

The handgun was prohibited in Canada, and its serial number had been removed. The agreed statement of facts says John knew the number had been defaced. Police later recovered the serial number and traced the gun to a man who pleaded guilty to trafficking handguns in an unrelated case.

After disposing of the firearm, John was stopped by a mall security guard for walking around during the lockdown and escorted to an exit. The guard did not know John was a person of interest. John left the mall on foot at 8:10 p.m.

Emergency crews treated two injured men who remained in the parking lot and another injured man inside the shooting range. The lockdown lasted until 10 p.m. Police secured the mall’s 22 public entrances and multiple employee-only access points while treating the situation as an active shooter event. The lockdown was extended after someone posted a fake comment on an online forum claiming to be the shooter and saying they were hiding under a slide in the waterpark.

Court documents also record a medical incident during the lockdown that required intervention. After people were allowed to leave, many could not reach their vehicles, so police and other emergency personnel coordinated transportation. Multiple ambulance units were sent to the mall to respond to the injured people, the medical emergency and stress-related reactions among customers, reducing ambulance capacity across the city.

Investigators later learned the white Chevrolet SUV had been reported stolen two weeks before the shooting. The day after the incident, it was found burning in a rural area on Highway 16A and ATIM Road in Parkland County. The vehicle’s occupants have not been conclusively identified.

According to the agreed statement of facts, John had never held a licence to possess firearms or a registration certificate for restricted or prohibited firearms. The case follows the lengthy Edmonton police investigation that led to the May 2024 warrant. CTV News Edmonton’s Amanda Anderson contributed reporting.

Based on reporting by CTV News Edmonton.