Police struggle to keep pace with gang wars
Another public shooting, this time in mall parking lot, kills woman who once had RCMP office job
Police and politicians tried again Friday to allay public fears after the latest fatal shooting, this time of a Brothers Keepers gangster suspected of being linked to last Sunday's dramatic gang murder at Vancouver airport.
Jaskeert Kalkat, 23, was gunned down about 8:30 p.m. Thursday in the parking lot of Burnaby's Market Crossing mall at Marine Way and Byrne Road.
Two other people were also shot, a man and a woman who were also “known to police, ” said Sgt. Frank Jang of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team.
They were taken to hospital with “severe injuries, but they are expected to survive.”
Postmedia has learned the young woman once briefly worked in a clerical position in the RCMP's criminal intelligence centre, but left the job more than a year ago. No one in the RCMP would comment officially on the connection, confirmed through sources.
“I understand there is information circulating on social media, however we do not want to compromise the victim's safety and are concerned that providing information that could do so does increase their risks,” Jang said.
Postmedia is not identifying her by name given the security risk. Her contact information remained in an RCMP database of employees as of Friday, but one source said that was a “technical” glitch and her account is no longer active.
Sources also confirmed that the woman has a relative working in the RCMP who has been concerned about her gang connections and tried to persuade her to cut those ties.
A white SUV found burning in South Surrey just after 9 p.m. appears to be the shooter's getaway vehicle, Jang said. He is asking the public to check their dash cam video if they were on Highways 91 and 99 or 16th Avenue between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m.
Sources said Thursday's murder is likely in retaliation for the fatal shooting of United Nations gangster Karman Grewal, 28, at YVR on Sunday afternoon.
Neither Kalkat nor his two associates were customers of the Cactus Club at the mall, people at the scene said. The trio were shot near the restaurant's outdoor patio.
People on the patio screamed and dove for cover after close to 20 shots rang out. Broken glass was scattered beneath the tables.
One woman told Postmedia she and her friend were seated on another restaurant's patio when they heard “pop, pop, pop, pop.” At first they thought it was fireworks, but then screaming and commotion started.
“We didn't see the shooters — nothing like that. But, just, we saw people diving around. ... There was hell. There was broken glass. They were throwing the tables in the air. Oh my God,” she said. “It's amazing more people weren't hurt.”
Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said Friday that police are doing everything they can to end the shootings and put those responsible behind bars.
He said he would personally like to see more “naming and shaming” of gang members — both to help police get information about them and so the public can better protect themselves.
Asked why many gang murders remains unsolved, Farnworth said, “These are, in many cases, very complex investigations.” In some cases, he said, suspects are killed in retaliatory shootings before they can be charged.
“That is a challenge because the person who committed the crime has now also become another statistic,” he said.
Police across the region said they have their gang enforcement units out trying to target those involved.
Kalkat, who was born in 1998, was on probation at the time of his death, having been convicted in October of an assault in Surrey in 2019. He was also convicted of a 2017 assault in Vancouver involving others in the Brothers Keepers as well.
Retaliation was expected after Grewal's murder outside YVR's international terminal Sunday at 3 p.m.
Grewal's killer escaped in a maroon-coloured Honda Pilot driven by a second person, shooting at a Richmond RCMP car that tried to chase the vehicle. The SUV was found burning in the 9700block of Princess Drive about 30 minutes later.
The UN gang has been locked in a bloody battle with the Brothers Keepers gang and the Red Scorpion/Kang group over drug turf since at least 2017. All sides have had highlevel members killed this year.
The year started off with the Jan. 6 murder of Red Scorpion — and former Brothers Keeper — Gary Kang, 24, inside his parents' south Surrey house. A day later Anees Mohammed, 29 and a key player in the Wolfpack gang was shot to death in Steveston Park — likely in retaliation. On Jan. 9, Dilraj Johal, 28, was fatally shot in Richmond. He was once close to a Brothers Keepers leader, but was aligned with the UN at the time of his slaying.
The violence ramped up again with the murder of Brothers Keepers Harb Dhaliwal outside Cardero's restaurant on April 17, then the slaying of longtime UN gangster Todd Gouwenberg in Langley on April 20. On May 1, correctional officer Bikramdeep Randhawa was shot to death in a Delta mall parking lot in what may have been a case of mistaken identity.
On May 8, Toni Dalipi, 19, was shot to death outside a Burnaby vape store. Ahmed Tahir, 20, has been charged with first-degree murder in that case. The slaying has also been linked to the Lower Mainland gang conflict.
Then on Mother's Day, Sunday, Grewal was killed. There were also several other shootings in recent weeks with no known link to the gang war.
First there was the provincial health officer acknowledging that, yes, if all goes according to plan there could be fans back in B.C.'s sports stadiums by late summer.
Then there was the call from the Vancouver Canucks urging fans to get vaccinated.
Provincial health officer Dr.
Bonnie Henry told Global News on Friday that she believed there would be fans back in stands in September or October.
“I think later in the summer, into the fall we will be looking at spectators for sure,” Henry said, adding that provincial health officials were watching with interest to see how the U.K.'s slow reopening of sporting events unfolds. Certain games like the FA Cup final are being allowed to have limited capacity crowds.
“I'm watching the U.K. where they have done experiments, doing planned events where people are monitored before and after to see if transmission happens,” Henry said.
The Canucks have been quietly preparing plans for several scenarios in preparation for next season, ranging from a full opening of stands at the beginning of the season to an initial crowd capacity limit, which might be slowly increased as the season progresses, similar to what has happened in the U.S. this spring.
In an emailed statement,
Vancouver Canucks chief operating officer Trent Carroll urged fans to get vaccinated to create an environment where transmission rates of COVID19 become low enough so a return to near-normal crowds is possible.
“We remain optimistic that fans will be back at Rogers Arena next season and we are continuing to prepare for all possibilities, including physically distanced plans and ultimately a full arena again, whenever we receive the green light to safely do so,” Carroll told Postmedia. “To help make that happen we need everyone to register and get vaccinated as soon as possible.”