RICHMOND, B.C. - Mounties believe four people injured in Metro Vancouver's latest shooting were targeted, but the violence at a Richmond, B.C., gathering on Wednesday night is not being linked to other recent deadly attacks.
"There is no information to suggest that this is related to anything out of the events that have occurred in the Lower Mainland in the last week," said RCMP Insp. Bryon Massie.
He said two men have critical injuries and two others were being treated for less serious gunshot wounds in the wake of the shooting at around 9 p.m. at the Riverside Banquet Hall in northeast Richmond.
One unidentified eyewitness told radio station News1130 that one person was shot in the neck during an argument and three people who tried to intervene were also shot.
Another witness said he heard around eight shots being fired during what police described as a birthday party, but some of those in attendance said was a gathering of the longshoreman's union.
Massie said the scene in the hall was chaotic when police arrived and a transit bus was called to take many of the estimated 100 witnesses to the detachment for further questioning.
He also told radio station CKNW that only a single shooter was involved and he believed Mounties were not actively searching for a suspect.
"I don't believe thay are, but again the investigation is just in the very early stages," said Massie.
"In order to know who you are looking for you have to interview witnesses, and even the victims themselves, so then we will go from there to start looking for anybody."
Police in neighbouring Surrey are investigating three targeted shootings that have claimed four lives in that city since Sunday.
Homicide teams identified known gang associate Manjinder Singh Hairan, 29, as the man shot to death early Tuesday morning in a north Surrey neighbourhood.
The attack came just 36 hours after a double murder in a Surrey apartment garage left John McGiveron and Geordie Carlow, both 33, dead of gunshot wounds.
Just hours before that Jan. 13 incident, police said Manjot Dhillon was the victim of a targeted, gang-related hit, but investigators have not linked any of those crimes and note the Richmond shooting is unrelated.
