Travis Brandon Baumgartner was born on May 16, 1991. He grew up in Sherwood Park, Alberta, where he lived with his mother. There is not much public information about his childhood or family life. Travis worked for G4S Cash Solutions, a security company, after being hired just two months before a tragic event occurred in his workplace.

Travis had to complete a background check to obtain a federal firearms license as part of his job requirements. There were no known disciplinary issues during his short time at the company. He was often described as someone who did not get along well with his coworkers. In conversations with a friend, he jokingly mentioned robbing his coworkers.

At the time of the tragic incident, Travis faced significant financial problems. He only had 26 cents in his bank account and owed $58,000 to his mother and two friends. This debt was mostly due to expenses like a car and other personal items. He expressed a feeling of obligation to his friends because he had borrowed money from them in the past.

Several minutes into midnight on June 15, 2012, Travis Baumgartner shot four of his coworkers while on duty at the HUB Mall in Edmonton, Alberta. The shooting occurred during a routine task to refill ATMs with cash. As his coworkers entered the secured vault behind the machines, Baumgartner shot three of them with a .38-caliber revolver. He then shot the fourth coworker when he approached the armored truck. All four victims were shot in the back of the head at close range. Three of the workers died at the scene, while the fourth sustained severe injuries.

After the shootings, Baumgartner stole the armored vehicle and fled the scene. A manhunt was initiated as he left Edmonton. He gave money to two friends and his mother, leaving $64,000 on his mother's kitchen table. In an attempt to evade capture, he destroyed his cell phone to avoid being tracked. He swapped the license plate of the armored truck with one from his mother's vehicle, then drove towards Banff. There, he disposed of his weapon and vest by throwing them into a river.

Baumgartner's escape ended on June 16, 2012, when U.S. Customs and Border Protection arrested him while trying to cross the border into the United States near Langley, British Columbia. At the time of his arrest, he had more than $333,000 in cash. In several days following his arrest, Baumgartner confessed to an undercover officer that he had killed his coworkers and robbed their truck.

Baumgartner was flown back to Edmonton, where he was charged with multiple counts related to the murders and robbery. On September 9, 2013, he pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder. He also pleaded guilty to a charge of attempted murder. Baumgartner was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 40 years, marking one of the strictest sentences in Canadian history.