Calgary fatal shooting connected to B.C.’s gang conflict: police

CALGARY (NEWS 1130) — Calgary police are confirming that a fatal shooting that occurred on Saturday is linked to the ongoing Lower Mainland gang conflict.

Talking to NEWS 1130 sister station NEWS 660 on Sunday, police in Calgary say they will not be releasing the man’s name, or the connection to the Lower Mainland until Tuesday after an autopsy is completed.

On Saturday, Calgary police Sgt. Duane Lepchuk said they’d been in contact with police in the Vancouver area after the shooting in a suburban area of southwestern Calgary.

“When we attended the scene, we located a male suffering from gunshot wounds inside the vehicle,” Lepchuk told NEWS 1130. “He was the lone occupant and was declared deceased at scene. We believe it is a targeted attack. It was located near a halfway house.”

Witnesses told police that multiple suspects had jumped into a second car to make their getaway, which is being described as a blue, four-door vehicle, possibly a Subaru Impreza or Legacy. A vehicle matching the description was found on fire a few blocks away, according to Lepchuk.

The suspects have not yet been located.

“Our homicide unit has reached out to other jurisdictions to see if there’s a link with any of their files … so that would include the police in the Lower Mainland,” he said. Lepchuk called this a “normal course of action.”

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On the same day as the Calgary shooting, a man was gunned down at  Henderson Avenue and Hart Street, just north of Highway 1 and Brunette Avenue, in Coquitlam.

IHIT says the deadly shooting was targeted.

“The level of violence demonstrated in this incident is extremely concerning to us,” wrote Staff Sgt. Martin Schiavetta in a release Saturday evening.

“We are dedicating resources from across the Service to this investigation to ensure that the individuals involved are held accountable.”

An autopsy has been scheduled for the coming week.

Metro Vancouver has seen a half dozen daytime public shootings in recent weeks, the most prominent of which was a fatal shooting at the Vancouver International Airport.