This week saw three shootings in Surrey with the latest sending one man in hospital Tuesday night, this time right outside Strawberry Hill Elementary School, leaving it with bullet holes. Indo-Canadian community activist Meera Gill said that Surrey RCMP are too slow to respond when concerned family members call the non-emergency line to offer tips about their children.
SURREY – This week saw three shootings in Surrey with the latest sending one man in hospital Tuesday night, this time right outside Strawberry Hill Elementary School, leaving it with bullet holes.
Indo-Canadian community activist Meera Gill said that Surrey RCMP are too slow to respond when concerned family members call the non-emergency line to offer tips about their children.
Notices will be sent home to parents at a Surrey elementary school after the building was sprayed with bullets during a violent shootout on the property.
Witnesses at the violent shootout Strawberry Hill Elementary School reported hearing five or six shots during a confrontation between two groups on the school’s grounds around 6 p.m. Tuesday night. There were at least four bullet holes in the back of the school.
A 22-year-old man known to police was taken to hospital with a gunshot wound but is expected to survive.
Surrey School District Supervisor Doug Strachan said counselors are on the lookout for any children that need special attention.
“The chance of hurting someone, particularly in the school grounds where there’s playgrounds and so forth, is outrageous,” he told CTV news.
A stray bullet also hit the garage of a home in a nearby cul-de-sac.
Kiran Kaur, who lives next door, ran inside after hearing the gunshots.
“I run in because, I don’t know, it could hit me too right?” she said.
Kaur said she could hear the injured man screaming and asking for water.
“He was in a lot of pain,” she said.
Police believe the incident is targeted and no arrests have been made.
There was a shooting in the same neighbourhood two nights ago, but police say it’s too early to know if the two incidents are connected.
Meera Gill, a mother of two who lives near Newton, where an elementary school was hit by bullets, told CBC news parents at Strawberry Hill Elementary concerned after school hit with bullets
“The parents they’re saying, ‘I have an issue, I know that my kid is doing something fishy. Either I’ve seen drugs or I’ve seen weapons in their bags'” said Gill, whose organization has run public forums with the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit.
“They call non-emergency. What’s the response time? Maybe there’s going to be a quick call within 10, 15 hours, but then the response time is going to be three weeks.
“Can you imagine — three weeks — how much could go wrong, when there could be four shootings in 19 hours? It’s scary, it’s scary for every parent,” she said.
Gill said that the RCMP know which individuals are involved in the violence, and said more should be done to monitor them.
“They need to take these kids — and I’m not saying criminals, I’m saying kids — and put them aside somewhere and have a conversation and watch them. They can’t just let them go like this.”
When asked for reaction to Gill’s claims, RCMP did not not address Gill’s assertion that response times are too slow in a statement sent to CBC news.
Instead, Surrey RCMP Investigative Services Officer Supt. Manny Mann said that they have laid a number of charges and seized weapons over the past six months.
“We understand citizens are frustrated that we have not made arrests for the shootings themselves,” the statement said.
“While our intelligence has identified persons involved in these shootings, we cannot make arrests without sufficient evidence to support a charge.
“In order to do that, we need those who are involved and their friends and family to tell us what they know – this lack of cooperation has been a significant hindrance to our investigations.”
Earlier in the week, Surrey saw two drive-by shootings with the most recent shooting being at 15:15 p.m. Monday. The Surrey RCMP received several phone calls about a white Jeep chasing a black Chevrolet Corvette near 132nd Street and 89th Avenue in Whalley. Police flooded the area with patrol cars but have not found the two vehicles. Witnesses told investigators that three or four shots were fired from the Jeep at the Corvette.
Surrey Mounties were also investigating a drive-by shooting in Newton that happened early last Saturday evening.
Police were called to the 6800-block of 128th Street at roughly 6:30 p.m.
“Officers could not locate anyone at the scene in relation to the shots fired,” said Staff Sgt. Joe Johal. Police received a call from a man who told them he was driving on 128th Street approaching 68th Avenue when another vehicle pulled up alongside his and someone opened fire on him. No one was injured.
The driver drove a short distance before calling police to report the shooting.
It doesn’t appear to have been random, Johal said. Nor are police able to say whether it’s linked to any other shootings.
Police continue to investigate dozens of shootings that happened earlier this year and are believed to be linked to a dial-a-dope turf war.
Police ask anyone with information about these shootings to contact the Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502.
