A 16-year-old and an 18-year-old are dead in what police are investigating as a double homicide in Surrey, B.C.
In a news release, the Surrey Police Service (SPS) said officers were called to reports of a shooting in an underground parkade on 133B Street near 70B Avenue around 10 p.m. PT on Sunday.
Police found two male youths with gunshot wounds who died at the scene despite life-saving efforts.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) said the victims, aged 16 and 18, were both Surrey residents.
IHIT said investigators are working with the victims’ families to understand their activities leading up to the shooting.
Police believe the shooting was targeted and linked to the B.C. gang conflict.
“This shooting has left two families grieving the loss of young lives taken far too soon,” IHIT Sgt. Freda Fong said in a news release.
IHIT said police recovered a burnt grey four-door sedan near 144 Street and 84 Avenue believed to have been involved in the shooting.
Investigators have yet to make any arrests.
A burned vehicle located near 144 Street and 84 Avenue shortly after the fatal shooting Sunday. (Shane MacKichan)
It was the second shooting in Surrey on Sunday.
Around 4 a.m. that same day, two men were shot outside a gas station at the intersection of 72nd Avenue and 152 Street.
Both men were taken to hospital. SPS reported the men were in critical condition, while B.C. Emergency Health Services said it transported one man in stable condition and the other in serious, but stable condition.
Police said they were still investigating a motive in that shooting, but that they didn’t believe it was extortion related.
“We share the concerns that undoubtedly the public have,” SPS spokesperson Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton told CBC News.
“We have all of our officers out there trying to prevent this,” he added.
Gang unit recently redeployed, mayor says
On Monday, Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke said she was “outraged” by the spate of recent shootings.
Locke said she was calling on the Surrey Police Board to review a decision that saw members of the city’s gang unit redeployed to other roles when the SPS took over jurisdiction in Cloverdale.
“Surrey has always invested heavily in anti-gang messaging and fully staffed a specialist gang unit. This was recently discontinued by the chief of police,” Locke said in a statement.
“It is critical that the Surrey Police Service have the right plan in place to combat gang violence in our city, and collapsing this unit at a time when we are experiencing heightened levels of gang violence sends the wrong message.”
SPS Chief Const. Norm Lipinski says the eight-person gang unit was “temporarily repurposed” to help address the extortion crisis in Surrey, and then again to help with the city’s transition from the RCMP to the Surrey Police Service.
He said the plan is to return to regular staffing of the gang unit by mid-June.
Investigators have not said whether they are looking at a connection between the two Sunday incidents.
Anyone with information on the double homicide is asked to contact IHIT’s information line at 1-877-551-IHIT or by email at ihitinfo@rcmp-grc.gc.ca.