A shooting in broad daylight outside a busy Coquitlam shopping mall Monday afternoon drew a team of police investigators to comb the site for evidence and interview witnesses.
At about 4:06 p.m. Monday (April 26), police responded to shots fired near Urban Roots close to H&M in Coquitlam Centre, at the southeast corner of where the garden centre is temporarily located.
No one was injured in the shooting, but police say a man possibly connected to the incident is in hospital with non-life threatening stab wounds.
In a press release, Staff Sgt. Paul Vadik said it's not clear if the shooting is related to the Lower Mainland gang conflict.
According to witnesses on scene, there was a possible bullet hole in a water tank located inside the garden centre; water could be seen pouring out of the small hole.
Police at the site secured the area to recover evidence and speak to witnesses, according to Staff Sgt. Vadik.
And he encouraged anyone with information or dash cam footage to call Coquitlam RCMP at 604-945-1550 and quote file number 2021-10850.
Assisting the police in the investigation are members of the Combined Special Forces Enforcement Unit, an integrated police program, made up of members from every police department in B.C.
At the time of the shooting, The scene was busy due to the fact that students at nearby schools were dismissed and were near the mall area. The shooting took place by the 3 way traffic in-front of the H&M store just on the crosswalks. #coquitlam #shooting @TriCityNews pic.twitter.com/JFbuvJjMkr
— Chami An (@Official_Chami) April 27, 2021
The incident comes exactly one week after a shooting at a basketball court in Coquitlam's Town Centre Park that killed 20-year-old Bailey McKinney.
Coquitlam RCMP have not provided any updates in the McKinney shooting; however, cards, notes, flowers and other items have been left at the place where he died last Monday.
Coquitlam has been the focus of an intensive police investigation during the month of April, including by the Combined Special Forces Unit after four shootings in the space of a week.
Coquitlam RCMP are investigating whether those four recent shooting incidents — three of which resulted in gunshot wounds to male victims — are linked to drugs and the Lower Mainland gang conflict.
The investigation has been hampered by the fact that the victims were not cooperative with police.
