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Eighteen local shootings in Surrey and North Delta since beginning of March

SURREY — Eighteen shootings have been reported locally since the beginning of March — 15 in Surrey, and two in North Delta.

The latest happened Monday at 10:30 p.m., in the 6900-block of 148A Street. Police responding to 911 calls found a car that had crashed into a parked car. Both were unoccupied. Surrey RCMP Cpl. Bert Paquet said witnesses reported “unknown numbers of occupants running from the scene,” and that police found bullet casings nearby. Nobody has been arrested.

Meantime, a silver car is believed to be involved in at least four of the shootings. In some of the other cases the colour of the vehicles involved is either not known or hasn't been released by police.

There were also shootings in Surrey on Sunday afternoon, Saturday night and early Friday morning. At least two of those involved a silver car.

A man was rushed to hospital with gunshot wounds at about 5 p.m. Sunday after he was found in the 7000-block of 130th Street in Newton.

“The victim is in stable condition, recovering from surgery,” Paquet said.

On Saturday, at about 7:20 p.m., the Surrey RCMP received 911 calls that a silver four-door sedan pulled up alongside a small red car on 128th Street near 60th Avenue and the red car was fired upon.

Police seized the suspect car, a silver Nissan Altima, near 62nd Avenue and 136th Street late Sunday morning. Paquet said it was pulled over, but the driver was not arrested. “They are a subject of interest,” he said.

Police are trying to establish who it is the registered owner, he added.

“The investigation continues in an effort to identify and locate the individuals associated to the vehicle at the time of the shooting.”

Shots were fired at a house in Royal Heights at about 5 a.m. Friday, in the 11700-block of 96th Avenue, but no injuries were reported. Police are looking for a silver import, possibly a Honda Civic, which took off from the scene.

On April 1st, a gunman in a silver car opened fire on another vehicle near 128th Street and 64th Avenue in Newton.

Meanwhile, police continue to investigate two shootings in North Delta on April 5. One of the shootings happened in the 11500-block of 79th Avenue and involved a silver car, possibly a Toyota.

Sgt. Sarah Swallow, of the Delta Police, said police have stepped up their patrols since the shootings. As far as any connection between Surrey's shootings and Delta's, she said, "So far nobody's come out and said there's a link."

She conceded that even if police consider the shootings to have been targeted, that's of "little or no comfort when you live on the street."

As for the silvers cars, and whether police suspect one vehicle was used in multiple shootings, Swallow noted, "There's a lot of silver cars out there."

Said Surrey RCMP Sgt. Dale Carr, “They’re multiple silver cars, I think.”

As for the shootings, he said, the Surrey RCMP is being “very proactive, very heavy-handed,” and throwing “every little bit” into the investigations.

On Friday, the Surrey RCMP drug section arrested Arman Dhatt, 18, during a raid on his Delta residence and he is to appear in Surrey provincial court today (April 16), facing six drug trafficking charges, five firearms charges and one count of resisting a police officer. Carr said Dhatt’s arrest “was a direct result of the ongoing shooting conflict that we’ve experienced here in Surrey.”

— with files from Kim Bolan, Vancouver Sun.



About the Author: Tom Zytaruk

I write unvarnished opinion columns and unbiased news reports for the Surrey Now-Leader.
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