Vancouver police make third arrest related to DTES shootings
Credit to Author: Scott Brown| Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2019 22:24:26 +0000
Vancouver police have made a third arrest in connection with a string of gang-related shootings in the Downtown Eastside.
Joseph Bassett, a 29-year-old with no fixed address, has been arrested and charged with two counts of attempted murder and multiple weapons offences relating to one of three targeted shootings that occurred within 15 hours of each other on Sunday and Monday.
Police says Bassett is connected to the second shooting which occurred at 6 p.m. Sunday near East Pender and Abbott streets. A 28-year old Langley man and 25-year-old Surrey man were injured and treated in hospital for what police described as non-life threatening injuries.
Bassett was convicted of robbery in July.
The arrest comes just three days after VPD arrested 26-year-old Joseph Brown and 31-year-old Desirae Cardinal for a shooting outside the Grand Union Hotel on East Hastings Street at 6:30 a.m. Monday that sent a 50-year-old Vancouver man to hospital with serious injuries.
Police are still investigating the first shooting which occurred Sunday around 4 p.m. near East Hastings Street and Dunlevy Avenue. That shooting put a 50-year-old Surrey man in hospital with serious injuries.
“Each of these shootings appears targeted and gang related,” said VPD spokesman Const. Steve Addison. “We are still investigating any and all connections between the three incidents, and we need anyone with information to do the right thing and come forward.”