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Man charged in connection with Langford shooting

IIO investigating RCMP involvement in crash of car believed to be linked to shooting

A 27-year-old man has been charged in connection with a shooting Tuesday in Langford.

Justin Lemmen was identified as the driver of a Kia Optima that crashed into the aftermath of an unrelated collision between two cars at Kelly Road and Veterans Memorial Parkway. He was arrested at the scene and a firearm was seized from the vehicle.

Lemmen has been charged with unauthorized possession of a firearm, possession of a prohibited firearm in a motor vehicle, two counts of failing to comply with the conditions set out in his undertaking and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle.

He remains in police custody and the investigation is ongoing.

West Shore RCMP believe the Kia was one of two cars involved in a shooting about 11 a.m. outside the Happy Valley Market.

Both vehicles fled southbound on Happy Valley Road. A brown Cadillac DeVille about a bullet hole through the rear driver’s side window was found abandoned on Leila Place in Colwood.

Police are still looking for the driver of that vehicle, a white man in his 30s last seen near the Royal Colwood Golf Course.

Investigators are asking that man to come forward so they can determine if he and other occupants of the vehicle are OK, said West Shore RCMP spokeswoman Const. Nancy Saggar.

Saggar said the shooting was targeted and isolated. Police have not said whether it was connected to drugs or organized crime, but it was not connected to a targeted shooting on April 5 that injured a man in his 30s. In that case, a 22-year-old man was arrested several hours after the shooting in a home on Jacklin Road. The man was arrested for breach of probation, but has not been charged in connection with the shooting.

In Tuesday’s shooting, the Independent Investigations Office of B.C. is investigating the West Shore RCMP to determine what role, if any, its officers might have played in injuries suffered by the suspect driver.

Police ask anyone with information to call 911. Anonymous reports can be made to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).