Yet another shooting in Surrey — the second such incident this past weekend — has left residents nervous and on edge.
Just after 10 p.m. Saturday, bullets flew between two vehicles in the 18600-block Highway 10 in Cloverdale near the Langley border, in a part of town that has, until now, been immune to the bouts of gunfire that have plagued Surrey since March.
“This area is very quiet, you never see anything happen here,” said Kulwinder Jaspal, who lives on the same block of 56 Avenue N. parallel to the highway, separated only by some trees and hedges.
Jaspal said she heard three to four shots at around 10:15 p.m. At first, she dismissed the loud pops as fireworks, then she heard sirens and saw police cruisers swarm the roadway, and yellow tape go up.
“I had just come home from work. If I came home a bit later, I could’ve been outside,” she said.
Another neighbour heard the gunshots but also thought they were fireworks until she saw police officers using a flashlight to examine the houses on the street, and cars parked in driveways, for stray bullets.
Two residences were struck by bullets, said police. No one was hurt. One bullet struck a garage door, while Jaspal’s home had what appeared to be bullet holes on the side of the house.
Maha Elias was rattled by the incident and said she plans to talk to her husband about moving elsewhere. They had moved from Victoria to Surrey in what Elias said “supposedly was a good neighbourhood.”
Now, she is worried and is telling her daughter to stay away from the windows as a precaution.
“I don’t want to have to deal with this kind of thing,” she said. “For me, right in front of your house, it shouldn’t happen.”
By the time Surrey RCMP arrived, the suspects were gone. Police were subsequently told by a regional hospital that two men had arrived at the facility with gunshot-related injuries that were non-life-threatening.
While the men were treated, the facility was on lockdown as a safety precaution.
Police believe the incident was targeted and the shots were fired between a white or light-coloured SUV and a silver Pontiac Vibe. An SUV was located was seized by police.
The Highway 10 shooting occurred just a day after another targeted drive-by shooting in the 5700-block 152nd Street on Friday night that left two men injured.
The men were sitting outside their home when more than 30 rounds were fired at the house, one bullet grazing one man in the head and another hitting the other man in the foot, said a relative. A dark-coloured sedan was seen fleeing the scene.
Police are investigating whether there is any link between that incident and the one on Saturday.
Staff-Sgt. Joe Johal said Sunday there was “nothing apparent” to connect the two incidents, but the situation was still being investigated.
There have been more than 30 shootings in Surrey since early March. At least 16 of those cases were related to an ongoing feud between two groups of low-level drug dealers, Surrey Mounties had said previously.
Police could not yet say whether this weekend’s shootings were related to that turf war.
