Man, 21, fatally shot in parents’ East Van home
Shooting shocks retired police officer who lives in area
The 21-year-old man gunned down Halloween night in East Vancouver has been identified as Alexander Julian Liang, who was out on bail awaiting trial.
Liang was charged Dec. 8, 2011, with unlawful confinement, robbery and use of an imitation firearm. While on bail, he was charged in July with possession for the purpose of trafficking, production of a controlled substance and unlawfully possessing chemicals and equipment for the production of methamphetamine.
Liang’s drug-production charges stem from a raid by the Federal Drug Enforcement Program on a Richmond drug lab.
He was fatally wounded at about 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the home of his parents in the 3200-block East 6th Avenue.
Retired cop Tom Gowdyk thought someone had pulled a great Halloween prank when he awoke Thursday to find his East Vancouver home wrapped in police tape.
He quickly realized he was in the midst of a crime scene when he saw Vancouver police blocking the alley and street along the well-kept neighbourhood.
“I was thinking, ‘Nice prank,’ ” Gowdyk said of the tape strung along the block. “I thought it was decoration until I saw all the police cars.”
He quickly found out that a man had been shot at a neighbouring home and left for dead in the backyard.
“It was the talk of the dog park,” he added of the shooting.
Gowdyk, 57, who has lived in the neighbourhood most of his life, said that traditionally Halloween is loud well past midnight. But on Wednesday, he said, the noise stopped at around 10:30 p.m. and it was eerily silent from that point on.
Homicide investigators continue to comb the area for a weapon.
Gowdyk, like other residents, said they now have heard the shooting victim was a gangster. “No one knew we had a gangbanger living in the neighbourhood,” he said.
As a cop, Gowdyk said, he did patrol work in East Vancouver and went to only a handful of fatal shootings in nearly three decades of service.
Gowdy and other residents who didn’t want to be identified said it was fortunate the shooting took place later in the evening. The area earlier on was full of families with kids trick-or-treating. Other residents said the victim was an Asian male.
Vancouver police Sgt. Randy Fincham would only confirm that the man was known to police and that the shooting appears to be targeted.