Shootings linked to gang war: police
A rash of shootings across the Lower Mainland is linked in part to an escalating conflict between the Brothers Keepers and the United Nations gangs, Postmedia has learned.
A young man shot to death in south Vancouver on Wednesday had been with the BK gang, but switched sides to the UN.
Iqbal Grewal, 23, was gunned down mid-block on East 64th between Knight and Inverness at about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. A GMC Terrain vehicle linked to his killer or killers was later found burning in Richmond.
Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said Friday that he's alarmed about the gunplay in recent weeks, after a lull earlier in the year due in part to a crackdown by the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit's Brothers Keepers task force.
“It's disturbing to see the gun violence increasing. But what I can also say is that police — the integrated units and CFSEU — are doing a lot of intelligence gathering and will be on top of it. If (gangsters) think it's going to be ignored, it won't be,” he said.
Const. Tania Visintin of the Vancouver police said Friday that investigators are looking for dash cam video taken in the area where Grewal was killed, as well as near where the vehicle was torched at Westminster Highway and Kartner Road.
“Vancouver police are concerned about the increasing gang activity in Vancouver and are in touch with other policing partners to address it,” she said.
“We believe there are people out there who have information on this incident and we are urging them to come forward.”
Sources say that Grewal was targeted in part because he was present when BK member Daniel Grewal was shot at in Surrey in April 2019. Five people were arrested that day, but no one has been charged.
Since Monday, there have been five shootings, with Grewal killed and two others injured. (A double murder at the Astoria Hotel in Vancouver on Sept. 16 is not believed to be related to the gang conflict.)
On Monday, just after 10, Surrey RCMP responded to a shooting in the 12900 block of 65A Avenue. They found the target uninjured and “evidence confirming that a shooting had occurred.”
Police said the target had been pursued by two others known to him and confirmed the gun violence was part of the Lower Mainland gang conflict.
On Thursday night, Surrey Mounties went to a shooting near 34 Avenue and 194 Street. They found another young man with loose links to the BK injured.
He was taken to hospital. A burning vehicle was also found nearby.
Later Thursday, at about 11:30 p.m., Richmond RCMP received 911 calls about a shooting near Blundell and No. 3 Road. Cpl. Ian Henderson said the occupants of two vehicles exchanged gunfire before speeding away.
“At this time, this matter appears to be a targeted incident. Fortunately, no bystanders were injured,” he said.
Just after 5 a.m. Friday, Langley RCMP found a 29-year-old man suffering from a gunshot wound at 212 Street and 42 Avenue. A second man, 35, appeared to have been assaulted. Both were taken to hospital.
Cpl. Craig van Herk said both men were known to police, but that there's no evidence suggesting a link to the broader gang conflict.
The increased violence between the BK and the UN involves seeking revenge for earlier shootings and wanting control of the lucrative Surrey drug trade. The BK, which maintains links with the Hells Angels Hardside chapter, has been operating for only a few years, while the UN began in Abbotsford in the late 1990s. Original leaders of both are either dead or in jail.
Many of the current gang members on both sides are young, having been recruited as teenagers.
Farnworth said those choosing gang life “get sucked into this sort of quick-money glamorous lifestyle and they think that getting killed is something that happens to other people and that it doesn't happen to them.”
He also suggested that the work of the CFSEU task force targeting the BK, “created a vacuum” and other “criminals seek to take advantage of that.”
CFSEU Sgt. Brenda Winpenny said Friday that the agency is sharing all its intelligence on the players involved with police across the region “in order to support the continuing investigations.”
Surrey RCMP Cpl. Elenore Sturko said despite the two shootings this week, overall gun violence in the city is down considerably in 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.
But the detachment's specialized gang enforcement team is also co-ordinating with CSFEU, the VPD and other policing agencies.
“This a regional issue because of the nature of drug trafficking and the nature of the criminal businesses that these individuals are involved in,” Sturko said.
“We do have to think regionally because we have many of the same players, the same individuals, and we do keep an eye on them so that if things evolve, we evolve as well or even intercept criminal activity before it escalates."