Woman killed and man wounded in two separate Metro Vancouver shootings
THE CANADIAN PRESS
SURREY, B.C. - The fatal shooting of a woman as she drove with a young child in the back seat of her luxury car has stunned even veteran investigators, an RCMP spokesman said Monday.
"Many officers would say, yeah, nothing really shocks us anymore when you start dealing with these homicides on a daily, weekly basis, which many of us are," said Cpl. Peter Thiessen.
"But man, I've got to tell you, when you start throwing young kids in the mix there, regardless of who this woman was and what her affiliations may or may not have been, it really is irrelevant when there's a child sitting in the back.
"Clearly these shooters, they have no bloody conscience. It's that simple."
The as-yet unidentified woman was killed when at least four bullets hit the side of her Cadillac sedan as she drove it down a street in suburban Surrey. The car veered into a driveway, where police found her slumped behind the wheel.
The four-year-old child in the back seat was unhurt.
It was the second targeted shooting in Metro Vancouver in 12 hours and the latest in a string of more than a dozen shootings, six of them fatal, in the last two weeks.
Two young men who police say had gang ties were gunned down in broad daylight as they sat in their vehicles outside shopping malls in Surrey and Langley. A third was wounded in a similar but late-night attack in Vancouver.
Around midnight Sunday a man was wounded in the shoulder when an SUV drove up beside his Range Rover at an intersection in Surrey and someone opened fire.
Police say they believe the likely target was the man sitting behind the driver, who they say has ties to the local drug and gang culture.
Investigators aren't yet tying the woman's death Monday morning to gangs, although it has many of the hallmarks.
"There's nothing based in factual evidence to suggest that it's linked to gangs, linked to any of our other homicides or even linked to a domestic," said Cpl. Dale Carr, spokesman for the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team. "We're looking at all of those open mindedly and ensuring that we don't go into tunnel vision."
Thiessen, speaking for the B.C. Integrated Gang Task Force, said the unit will be sharing intelligence with homicide investigators working this case.
"The gang task force is brought in routinely in investigations such as this and in other serious files where there's the potential of any gang connection or gang affiliation to provide intelligence or some direction as to who may be involved on the victim side or on the suspect side," he said.
It's the second time this month that a woman has been shot to death in her vehicle. Brianna Helen Kinnear, who was serving a conditional sentence for drug trafficking, was found dead in her pickup truck in suburban Coquitlam.
"I think for the most part it's rare," said Thiessen. "That certainly raises the level of concern."
But the presence of a child in Monday's attack ups the ante, he said.
"You've got to think the shooters were fairly well aware that there was a child in this vehicle and it didn't seem to matter."
Police have not yet confirmed whether the victim was the child's mother. The child is in the care of the RCMP until a decision is made on whether he or she would be handed over to a relative or child-protection workers.
Investigators are canvassing the neighbourhood of the attack for potential witnesses, Carr said.
It's too early to say whether the child could give them any useful information, said Thiessen.
"There's huge issues around approaching this child and interviewing this child and to do it properly with proper professional support and in the proper setting," he said.
"It's just not a matter of sitting this child down and talking to the child. It is an entire intricate process with top professionals involved in any discussions that would occur with the child."
- By Steve Mertl in Vancouver
Content Provided By Canadian Press.
http://www.cjob.com/News/National/Article.aspx?id=86884
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