BURST
A woman was critically injured during an early morning shooting in Surrey on Sunday.
According to Surrey Police Service spokesperson Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton, police were called to a home on the 13000-block of 130A Avenue at 2:45 a.m.
“Officers arrived and paramedics were administering life-saving medical intervention to an adult female who was inside the residence at the time and had suffered a gunshot wound. She was transported to hospital, where she remains in critical condition,” Houghton said.
Houghton added that the department’s major crime section has taken over the investigation, and are looking at whether the shooting is linked to extortion.
“SPS will be working closely with our partner agencies to determine if there is a nexus to other ongoing investigations,” he said.
In recent months, a string of extortion-related shootings and crimes have proliferated across Metro Vancouver, mostly involving Surrey based businesses and targeting South Asian business owners.
In many cases, the violence came following communications with the business owners in which suspects demanded large sums of money.
Those who could not pay — or refused to pay — often found their businesses or home hit by gunfire.
On Oct. 6, a flurry of charges were announced by both the Surrey Police and the B.C. RCMP against five men in two separate confirmed extortion cases . Two others were also charged in an arson case that is possibly linked to extortion.
Anyone with information about Sunday’s incident, or anyone who may have been in the area of 13000 block of 130A Avenue between 2:30 and 3 am and witnessed the shots fired or suspicious activity, or has CCTV or dashcam footage, is asked to contact the SPS non-emergency line at 604-599-0502.
Houghton will be making another statement in the case at 9:30 a.m.
— With files from Stephanie Ip