Skip to content

Man shot dead in South Surrey neighbourhood

Police ID victim as Craig Widdifield, the morning after the 28-year-old was gunned down in targeted shooting.
68462whiterockP1010791
Police are on the scene of a shooting at Morgan Crossing Wednesday evening. Below: Surrey RCMP Chief Supt. Bill Fordy speaks to reporters at scene.


One man was killed Wednesday evening and police were still on the scene the next morning of what's being described as a targeted shooting in a South Surrey neighbourhood.

The victim has been identified as Craig Widdifield.

"This shooting was a targeted, gang-related shooting in a busy residential and business complex, " said Integrated Homicide Investigation Team spokesperson Sgt. Jennifer Pound in an email Thursday morning.

Dozens of officers raced to the Morgan Crossing shopping centre, in the 15700-block of Croydon Drive, after shots rang out around 7 p.m., sparking multiple 911 calls.

Surrey RCMP Chief Supt. Bill Fordy told media at the scene two hours later that the victim is believed to be a 28-year-old man who is known to police "for this lifestyle."

It's believed the suspect fled the scene in a Jeep Cherokee and got into a a silver or grey Volkswagen Passat near 28 Avenue and 165 Street.

The man's body was found in the parking lot, near a toy store and a Starbucks, by a walkway leading to the Steve Nash Sports Club and overhead condominiums.

Surrey RCMP Chief Supt. Bill Fordy

Witnesses told Peace Arch News they heard multiple shots and saw the victim lying on the ground next to a silver Mercedes SUV.

"I was just getting out of my car and I heard four gunshots," one man said.

The White Rock resident, who did not want to be named, described seeing what looked like gunshot wounds to the victim's head.

Another witness said he looked out of his bedroom window after hearing "three or four" shots from what sounded like an automatic weapon.

"I seen the man on the ground," the 17-year-old said. "He looked… pretty young. He wasn't moving."

The witness described the victim as a white male; he was wearing bright orange shoes, a grey T-shirt or hoodie, and blue jeans or dark-coloured pants.

The incident triggered "pure chaos," he said. "Everyone was kind of screaming and in shock. It looked like the victim was deceased almost instantly. It was quick."

One woman carrying a young child and crying was seen running towards police, saying "tell me that's not my husband."

Police cordoned off a large section of the shopping centre parking lot, as a crowd gathered. Area businesses were evacuated.

Melany Hansen said she was in a class at the Steve Nash gym when the shooting occurred. She didn't hear anything, but said a woman came into the gym describing a pool of blood outside.

Officers with the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team were on the scene.

Fordy expressed great concern that the incident occurred in a residential area and said substantial police resources have been deployed.

He described the shooting as "eerily similar" to one that occurred in a Burnaby parking lot in 2010 and is considered a targeted and gang-related execution. Gurmit Singh Dhak was sitting in his BMW at Metrotown Shopping Centre when he was shot in the face.

Anyone with information on Wednesday's shooting is asked to call the IHIT tip line at 1-877-551-4448. To remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

View Shooting at Morgan Crossing in a larger map

Surrey's 11th homicide of 2013

Wednesday's murder brings the number of people killed in Surrey to 11 this year, one more than last year, and just two shy of the annual average.

On Jan. 13 at 7 p.m., Manjot Dhillon was shot and killed near 168 Street and 76 Avenue.

Later that same night, John McGiveron and Geordie Carlow, both 33, were found shot to death in a parkade near 128 Street and 94 Avenue. Police don't believe that shooting was gang related.

And on Jan. 15, Manjinder Singh Hairan, 29, was fatally gunned down near 127 Street and 112B Avenue in Bridgeview. Jujhar Singh Khun-Khun was also shot.

On Jan 28, police found the body of Jaskaran Singh Sandhu at 123 Street and Colebrook Road.

He was known to police, who said the killing was targeted and possibly gang related.

On Feb. 19, Janice Shore succumbed after a severe beating in Whalley. She had no gang associations.

Then on Feb. 21, Vimal Chand, 29, was found murdered in a car near Hyland Elementary School at 66 Avenue and 140 Street.

On March 14, police on patrol found the body of 54-year-old Brett Sheldon Lietz at 125A Street and Colebrook Road. A wider search with police dogs turned up the body of 40-year-old Nicole Madelynn Brochu.

On March 19, just before 5 p.m., Surrey RCMP were called to a duplex at 13049 103 Avenue for an unconscious woman.

Jackie Olson, 43, had been stabbed and died at the scene.

According to IHIT, the Hairan and Dhillon shootings were gang-related, with the victims believed to be associates of the Dhak-Dhure gang, which is allegedly involved in an ongoing conflict with the Red Scorpions, Hells Angels and Independent Soldiers.

Some of the same people shot recently in Surrey had been targets before, in what was believed to be retaliation for the Kelowna shooting of Red Scorpion Jonathan Bacon and Larry Amero of the White Rock Hells Angels.

Bacon was killed and Amero injured.

The gang task force issued a dire warning at the time of the Kelowna hit.

"To date, intelligence and information indicates that tensions amongst rival gangs have increased exponentially since the Kelowna shooting and it’s no longer a question of if retaliation will occur, but when," the task force said in a release at the time. "The potential for a violent reprisal is not restricted to any one community, and can occur anywhere at anytime."

The average number of killings in Surrey between 2001 and 2010 was 13 per year.

– with files from Kevin Diakiw

 



Tracy Holmes

About the Author: Tracy Holmes

Tracy Holmes has been a reporter with Peace Arch News since 1997.
Read more