Man wounded in daylight shooting
Police say drug-trade associates likely targeted as masked men in SUV open fire in Kamloops
A man suffered multiple gunshot wounds in a daylight shooting Monday at a busy Kamloops intersection — a crime police believe was likely a targeted attack involving rival drug dealers.
And the case may be linked to another shooting earlier that day.
Police said masked men inside a Cadillac Escalade opened fire on the occupants of a silver car stopped at the intersection just before 1:30 p.m. on Monday.
The shooting put a 56-yearold Kamloops man to hospital. He is expected to survive. Another occupant in his vehicle — who police described as a “young person” — was not injured.
Police say the young person is not from Kamloops, but are not releasing a city of residence.
Mounties say both occupants of the victim’s vehicle are associated with the Kamloops drug trade.
Drivers of both vehicles fled immediately after the shots were fired.
The 2007 Escalade was found abandoned a few hours later and seized.
It was bearing a licence plate from Alberta that was not registered to the vehicle.
The vehicle was reported stolen from Vernon on May 19 and police believe it has been in the Kamloops area since late May.
Lisa Sorensen, who works in a nearby business, said she heard a loud bang and looked outside to see broken glass on the roadway.
“We heard something, we look outside and we didn’t see anything,” the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory employee said. “Then we see a van pulled over talking to the police and then all the cop cars show up.”
Sorensen said the area was quickly cordoned off by police tape.
“A cop got out and started looking at the road,” she said. “Then I saw the glass and there were no cars there. My co-worker and I started joking around saying maybe it was a drive-by shooting. Then it was.”
Students at a nearby elementary school were placed on a “hold and secure,” according to school staff, while adjacent Thompson Rivers University, where most classes are out for summer break, took no action.
Employees at other area businesses did not report hearing gunshots.
A manager at the School District 73 bus yard, next the scene of the shooting, said none of her employees heard anything, and construction crews working on TRU’s campus across the street said the only commotion they noticed was that of police.
Kristine Brynjolfson, owner of Reservoir Coffee, said she read a news report about the shooting online and immediately texted her employees.
“I was like, ‘That’s in front of my coffee shop,’” she said. “Then I asked my employees and they said nobody saw anything.”
Brynjolfson said she was surprised to hear a shooting took place at such a busy intersection.
“It’s a bit scary, for sure,” she said.
“I’m surprised my staff never heard anything, but it can get busy in here.”
Earlier Monday, at just before 11 a.m., Mounties responded to a 911 call from a Salish Road resident on the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc reserve, where a firearm was used to shoot through the window of the home after an altercation.
Police say nobody was injured and that the suspects fled in a black truck.
“The violence that we see occurs in cycles,” said RCMP Staff Sgt. Simon Pillay. “We may experience periods of relative calm followed by several violent incidents. While planned to some degree, these are most often crimes of opportunity that are not bound by jurisdiction. They can happen anywhere and at any time.
“Fortunately, injuries to innocent bystanders are a rare occurrence, but gun use by criminals is treated very seriously by the RCMP and will be investigated thoroughly as a priority case.
Although this investigation is at it’s early stages, we are confident that neither shooting were random, but rather targeted shootings related to drug trafficking.”