A second shooting over the weekend in Surrey has left one man in hospital and residents shaken.
The shooting broke out at about 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the intersection of 75th Avenue and Scott Road in Newton — metres away from an apartment complex playground where about a dozen children were playing.
“It was crazy. It was right beside the playground, literally feet away,” said Ashley Leslie, who lives half a block from the crime scene and was in the area in the aftermath of the shooting. “It just blows my mind.”
Surrey RCMP say a man with multiple gun shot wounds was found in a silver SUV riddled with bullet holes. He was transported to a regional hospital conscious and able to speak.
The shooter or shooters quickly fled the scene. As of Sunday night, police have not issued any description of any suspect or suspect vehicle.
In a statement Saturday, Mounties said: “The investigation is still in its early stages, but initial indications are that this is a targeted incident.”
The shooting is the 39th shooting or shots-fired incident in Surrey this year and frustration is piling up for residents.
“There’s so many shootings going on,” said Leslie, questioning whether this latest incident is bound to trigger retaliation and a spiral of violence. “It’s continuous and it’s getting to the point residents are getting sick of it. It’s scary. Enough is enough. We’re tired of it.”
The shooting comes less than 24 hours after the 38th shots-fired call.
At about 3:30 a.m. on Saturday police got 911 calls about gunshots in the 1700-block King George Boulevard. Police said several rounds were fired into a house. RCMP say there was a party going on inside the home when shots rang out, but no one was hurt.
Police called the incident “isolated but targeted.”
“Thankfully nobody was injured in this incident and what we know at this point is that it certainly appears that it was a targeted event, although it has no links to the recent spike in violence that we saw last March here in Surrey,” said Surrey RCMP Cpl. Scotty Schumann.
Much of the gun violence in Surrey has been linked to the players involved in the low-level drug trade.
Anyone with further information who hasn’t already spoken to police is asked to contact Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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