Six hospitalized with gunshot wounds after violent week in Vancouver
Credit to Author: David Carrigg| Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2019 01:44:40 +0000
Six men have been shot in five incidents over the past week in Vancouver, as police deal with a surge in violent and brazen crime.
The most recent shooting occurred at 4:30 a.m. Sunday morning in the Downtown Eastside, with police discovering a 35-year-old Surrey man had been shot at the corner of East Hastings Street and Heatley Avenue. He was taken to Vancouver General Hospital in serious condition and no arrests had been made at deadline.
That incident was two blocks away from where a 50-year-old Surrey man was shot last Sunday in broad daylight in front of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users at 380 East Hastings. Three people were seen fleeing that scene and no one has been arrested.
The next shooting occurred two-and-a-half-hours later outside Goldies Pizza at the corner of Abbott and Pender. In that case, two people were shot and hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries — a 28-year-old Langley man and a 25-year-old Surrey man. On Friday, police arrested 29-year-old homeless man Joseph Bassett, who was charged with two counts of attempted murder and multiple weapons offences in relation to that shooting.
The third shooting occurred at 3:30 a.m. on Sept. 23 outside Vancouver’s Country Music Pub at 78 West Hastings and resulted in a 50-year-old Vancouver man being taken to hospital in serious condition. The next day, police arrested Thomas Joseph Brown, 26, and Desirae Lorell Cardinal, 31, (both from Vancouver) in relation to that shooting. Brown is charged with one count of unlawfully discharging a firearm and possessing a firearm contrary to an order, while Cardinal is charged with unlawfully discharging a firearm.
Police concluded that all three shootings were targeted, but they were not sure if they were all related.
The fifth shooting of the week occurred just after midnight on Sunday Sept. 29 outside the New Mandarin Seafood Restaurant at Kingsway and Gladstone. The restaurant is on the ground floor of a new 12-story condo tower.
A 44-year-old Vancouver man was shot multiple times and taken to Vancouver General hospital in critical condition. Police believe the two most recent two were targeted but not related. No arrests have been made.
“The shootings appear unrelated, however VPD investigators think they were targeted and believe there may be people with information to share with police,” said Const. Steve Addison in a prepared statement on Sunday.
One man was taken to hospital in critical condition after being shot midnight early Sunday on Sept. 29, 2019, outside the New Mandarin Seafood Restaurant at 4650 Gladstone St, Vancouver. [PNG Merlin Archive]
The latest shootings come after a series of warnings issued by the Vancouver Police Department about increases in gun seizures, rise in violent crime and a shift in crime from the corner of Main and Hastings streets to the Oppenheimer Park tent city a few blocks away.
One man was taken to hospital in critical condition after being shot midnight early Sunday on Sept. 29, 2019, outside the New Mandarin Seafood Restaurant at 4650 Gladstone St, Vancouver. [PNG Merlin Archive]
Last Monday, after the first spat of shootings, Vancouver police deputy chief Howard Chow told media “these shootings, in such a short time frame, highlight the escalating violence in the Downtown Eastside. Criminals are looking to take advantage of the current situation and are putting vulnerable people at risk.”
On Thursday night, Chow told Vancouver park board commissioners that he believed the increase in violence was directly related to the tent city. Chow, city and parks board management and the Vancouver Fire Services all want parks board to vote in favour of seeking a B.C. Supreme Court injunction that would allow them to shut down the camp.
Chow said there had been a 50 per cent jump in the number of attacks on police, a jump in gun seizures and what he called a “drug turf war.”
“It’s not a sustainable model on the policing side of things,” Chow said.