A 17-year-old Edmonton youth was charged Thursday with first-degree murder after a man was found shot to death in a parked car.

Brandon Dierich, 23, died of multiple gunshot wounds Tuesday night in a residential area at 93rd Street and 68th Avenue, near the Mill Creek Ravine.

Officers wheeled a bicycle out of a ravine on Wednesday.
(CBC)

At the time, police said the crime was drug-related and suspected the shooter was on a bike and fled toward the ravine. On Wednesday, officers wheeled a bicycle out of the ravine's dense bush and brought out a paper bag with something inside.

On Thursday, police arrested the 17-year-old at a mall. He can't be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

Norma Hartley was coming home with groceries Tuesday night when she saw a youth on a bike, leaning against a tree. Minutes later, she heard shots.

"My teacher instincts said he just didn't look like he should be hanging around," she said. "[He was] just a kid. The baby face was gone but he didn't have that adult look to him."

Brandon Dierich in an undated photo taken by a friend.
(James Matheson)

The family declined to comment on Dierich's death, but on an online memorial site, his grandfather, Klaus Dierich, wrote: "Brandon tried hard to pull his life together …. We are at an end to have lost him so early."

Friends, who have left a bottle of liquor, flowers and a stuffed toy at the scene of the crime, described the 23-year-old as a daredevil and the life of the party.

Police spokeswoman Karen Carlson said several 17-year-olds have been charged with homicides in Edmonton in recent months, involved in beatings, stabbings or fights at parties.

"The main difference here is that a firearm was used, one of the very few where a firearm was used."