Teens arrested for scaring seniors
ABBOTSFORD: Suspects allegedly used a megaphone to shout death threats at elderly park users
An ongoing conflict between two opposing groups of South Asian men has put residents in a west Abbotsford neighbourhood on edge, police say — and it’s also the reason why the elderly targets of a recent string of verbal attacks have taken the alleged threats so seriously.
Abbotsford Police arrested four young men aged between 17 and 19 on Saturday following reports that a group of men had been driving around Goldfinch Park yelling and throwing objects at the park’s users, the majority of whom are seniors.
Const. Ian MacDonald said the threats directed at seniors ranged from obscenities to “really rude comments,” all of which were broadcast through a megaphone the men are alleged to have used.
“They obviously thought that this was funny, but some of the comments included that they were going to come back and kill the seniors if they didn’t leave the park,” said MacDonald.
“So you can certainly sympathize with the seniors when you have four young men driving around suggesting that if they don’t leave the park they’re going to be killed.”
While considered an isolated event, MacDonald said the heightened sensitivity in the area, as a result of an unrelated conflict that has been slowly escalating over the past year, had many of the seniors fearful the threats would be acted upon.
“Two of the four (arrested) we haven’t had previous negative contact with,” MacDonald said. “The other two, the 19-year-olds, we’ve had some negative contact with. Although we can’t say this is definitively connected to the conflict, certainly this type of behaviour is something that we’ve seen.”
That conflict, the origins of which are not fully clear, involves about 40 men aged between 15 and 20 years old, said MacDonald. And it has slowly escalated from minor mischief to “road rage” scenarios, to “1950s’ style” rumbles with bats, to shootings.
MacDonald said police believe a drive-by shooting of a nearby house early Saturday is the latest incident in the brewing conflict. No one was injured in the shooting.
While the violence to date has only been directed at those involved in the feud, MacDonald said the risk to the public will increase as the severity of the incidents escalates.
“Part of the problem is when you get the retaliation for each incident,” he said. “The competing interests feel like they have to one-up each other.”
Saturday’s arrests followed a string of complaints beginning Thursday evening, which prompted police to pay special attention to the park. The men were arrested when the vehicle they were in was stopped by police.
Amarprit Singh Dhaliwal, 19; Gobind Denzil Singh Pangli, 19; Suraj Narang, 18; and a 17-yearold were all charged with uttering threats and causing a disturbance.