Sask. RCMP identify Weyburn shooting victim, family calling for answers

WATCH: Supt. Joshua Graham, officer in charge of Saskatchewan RCMP Major Crimes, shared a statement from the family of a woman who died in a highway shooting.

The family of a woman who was tragically killed by a gunshot while riding in a vehicle just outside of Weyburn, Sask. is calling on whoever is responsible to come forward immediately.

Tanya Myers was 44 years old when she succumbed to a gunshot wound on the evening of Sept. 12. Myers was fatally struck by a bullet while riding as the passenger in an SUV just outside of Weyburn on Highway 39.

Saskatchewan RCMP shared a statement from Myers’ family during a news conference on Tuesday.

In the statement, the family described Myers as an “amazing energy healer” and an “animal lover” with a special fondness for cats. The 44-year-old kept to herself, according to her family, and was making a rare trip outside of Weyburn at the time of shooting.

“We are all in shock and disbelief, and the loss of Tanya leaves a giant, gaping hole in our lives and her cats’ lives, who are all wondering where their mom has gone,” the statement read.

• Download the CTV News app to get breaking news alerts sent to your device

The family went on to call for whoever was responsible for Myers’ death to come forward immediately.

“She did not have anything to do with the way she left us … To the person or persons responsible, please grow a conscience and take responsibility for your actions. Tanya deserves justice, and her family deserves answers.”

Supt. Joshua Graham, the officer in charge of the Saskatchewan RCMP major crimes unit, elaborated on the investigation during the news conference. He reiterated that there are still many unknowns surrounding potential motives and what exactly led to Myers’ death.

“When we do investigations, and certainly death investigations, we’re very careful not to pre-draw conclusions, so when we don’t have that evidence staring us right in the face or when we first respond, we want to make sure we’re keeping an open mind with that,” he explained.

“It’s still possible that this is an accidental shooting, perhaps a shooting where somebody wasn’t even shooting the vehicles. It’s also possible somebody was shooting a vehicle. So really, we have to go by the evidence.”

Regardless of the circumstances of the shooting – Graham says it’s imperative that whoever is responsible must come forward.

“What I would say to that person is; there’s a family that’s suffering – that suffered a terrible loss. That person needs to come forward to help give them closure and understand how and why this happened,” he said. “Whether that is accidental, intentional, whether they knew about it or not. At the end of the day, we need to account and find out the truth as to what happened, how this happened, why it happened.”

RCMP have now determined that two vehicles were struck by gunshots around three kilometres northwest of Weyburn.

The vehicle Myers was travelling in stopped shortly after being hit – while the second vehicle continued on to Weyburn. The driver was unaware of what transpired that night – but came forward to police a day later after they discovered their vehicle had a flat tire.

The flat tire was later found to be the result of a gunshot.

Since the incident was made public on Saturday, Sept. 13, RCMP have asked for the public’s assistance in identifying potential witnesses of the shooting. The drivers of at least two vehicles who were travelling through the area at the time of the shooting have been identified after calls for public assistance.

Graham says that the public has been extremely helpful in the investigation and continues to encourage anyone with any information that may assist with the investigation to contact RCMP immediately.

“If you see something, say something. If there’s something that you think is related, or you hear something, or potentially know about something, please call 310-RCMP,” Graham said, adding that at this time – police are asking the public to be vigilant given the unknown factors surrounding the shooting.

“If there’s any specific increased public safety threat, we will certainly let the public know. That’s certainly the first and foremost thing on our mind at this point, other than we now have two vehicles in the same incident, there’s really no upgrade to that public safety threat information.”