One person has been shot following a brazen late Saturday afternoon incident in the Scottsdale Centre area of North Delta.
Delta police received reports of shots fired at 4:55 p.m. near the Shell gas station at 72nd Ave. and 120th St.
Officers responded immediately and located a male who had been shot.
“Right now the initial evidence is indicating that this was a targeted shooting,” said Insp. Guy Leeson, head of Investigative Services at Delta police. “Officers have been interviewing witnesses in the area, and we are also in possession of video that appears to have been filmed immediately after the incident.”
Police are asking anyone who hasn’t yet spoken to police, and was a witness, has dashcam or CCTV video, to call police at 604-946-4411.
DPD say they are not in a position to confirm the identity of the victim or comment on his medical condition.
“This shooting took place in a very public manner, and we are very much aware of the possible risk to innocent bystanders,” added Leeson. “Fortunately it doesn’t appear there was anyone else injured during this incident, but we ask those who might have any information to contact police.”
The Scottsdale Centre parking lot around the Walmart remains behind police tape as the investigation continues.
Vehicle torched in Burnaby
Shortly after the shooting in Delta, Burnaby fire crews and RCMP responded to a torched vehicle in an alley way.
That scene is also behind police tape tonight.
DPD would not comment when asked by the Optimist whether there was a connection to the two incidents.
String of targeted shootings
This is just the latest in a string of brazen shootings across the Lower Mainland that investigators say are as a result of the ongoing gang war.
Francois Joseph Gauthier faces murder charges linked to a deadly shooting last month in Vancouver.
Gauthier is accused of killing Harpreet Singh Dhaliwal. The 31-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene, after police first responded to calls of shots fired outside Cardero’s restaurant, near Coal Harbour Quay and Cardero Street, around 8:30 p.m. on April 17.
Police said at the time that the shooting appeared to be targeted.
Several days later, police identified Todd Gouwenberg, 46, of Langley as the man shot outside of the Langley Sportsplex just as parents were coming to drop off and collect their children.
Gouwenberg’s murder came less than 48 hours after the targeted execution of 20-year-old Bailey McKinney at Coquitlam’sTown Centre Park.
During an April 22 news conference, Sgt. Frank Jang, of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team said his unit had yet to find any links between the two murders, or between McKinney’s death and a spate of shootings across several Coquitlam neighbourhoods in recent months.
-with files from Tri-City News and Vancouver is Awesome
