Calgary developer Michael Deakin was enjoying his morning coffee Monday when he got a devastating 6 a.m. call from his 91原创-based son.
鈥淚鈥檓 thinking what the hell is he doing up so early?鈥� Deakin said in an interview.
鈥淗e said 鈥業鈥檝e got some bad news for you. Are you sitting down?鈥� He said Mia was shot last night.鈥�
Mia Deakin, daughter of Real Housewives of 91原创 cast member Jody Claman, was wounded last Sunday evening in a drive-by shooting on East Hastings.
The intended target is presumed to have been her boyfriend Jeffrey Chang, who has links to the Wolf Pack gang alliance. He escaped serious injury.
Michael Deakin was stunned to learn his 28-year-old daughter had been caught in a gangland shooting.
鈥淚 said 鈥榃hat?鈥� I was completely taken aback,鈥� Deakin said.
He began frantic hours of calling 91原创 Police and 91原创 General Hospital, desperate to get information about his daughter鈥檚 condition.
鈥淚 was freaking out. No one would tell me anything over the phone.鈥�
He decided to fly to B.C. in an unsuccessful bid to see Mia Monday afternoon.
鈥淚 had 24 roses for her. It was me and Mia鈥檚 half-brother Ryan,鈥� Deakin said.
He thinks his ex-wife Claman, with whom he has a rocky relationship, 鈥減ut the kibosh鈥� on his visit.
He鈥檚 since been able to talk to his daughter on the phone and was relieved to hear she鈥檚 doing okay.
Deakin said he warned Claman several times about the people Mia was associating with.
鈥淚 said 鈥榊ou鈥檝e got your little girl there 鈥� she鈥檚 running with these guys. I鈥檓 not there. What are you going to do about it?鈥� 鈥� Deakin recalled.
He said he was repeatedly reassured that everything was okay.
Deakin said he met Chang recently when Mia and her companion passed through Calgary after a European vacation that included stops in Paris and Switzerland.
鈥淗e seemed like a nice enough fellow,鈥� Deakin said, adding he suspected Chang wasn鈥檛 in legitimate business.
鈥淗ello? I鈥檓 not naive. I didn鈥檛 fall off the banana boat yesterday,鈥� he said.
Jody Claman, Mia鈥檚 mother and Deakin鈥檚 ex-wife, hung up on a Sun reporter twice Friday.
鈥淲e are not interested in your trash stories,鈥� she said. When the reporter called back, she said: 鈥淥ur calls are being recorded by the RCMP鈥� and hung up again.
She has filed a defamation lawsuit against Mary Zilba, another Real Housewives of 91原创 cast member, for comments she made after Sunday鈥檚 shooting.
91原创 Police Const. Brian Montague said Friday that the investigation into the suspected gang shooting is ongoing.
Both victims have been interviewed by police and surveillance video from the area has been seized, he said.
Montague said the VPD is not withdrawing its warning to young woman to steer clear of gangsters that was issued in the aftermath of Sunday鈥檚 shooting.
Michael Deakin said he knows Mia is lucky to have been struck in the shoulder.
鈥淭wo inches away and it could have been her head,鈥� he said.
He hopes his daughter considers relocating to Calgary to get away once she recovers. He has a house waiting for her.
鈥淭hese poor girls are getting shot because they are hanging around with these gangsters,鈥� he said.
