A second Coquitlam shooting in two days sent a man to hospital and provoked a massive police response at an apartment tower in Burquitlam Wednesday evening.
Coquitlam RCMP officers responded to shots fired in the 600-block of North Road at around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
“Initial reports came in that two males were arguing when the incident occurred,” said Coquitlam RCMP watch commander Sgt. Douglas Cameron in a press release.
When police arrived, they found a single male victim suffering a gunshot wound. He was treated and sent to hospital as police secured the scene, according to RCMP.
Police evacuated and barred residents from entering the Burquitlam Capital apartment tower at 691 North Road as a heavily armed RCMP Lower Mainland Emergency Response team entered the building, according to reports on the scene.
Coquitlam RCMP was not immediately available to comment on the nature of the victim’s injuries or if a suspect has been apprehended in connection with the shooting. Residents of the building were not allowed to return to their homes until 10 p.m., according to Castanet.
This is at least the fourth high-profile shooting in Coquitlam this year. On Tuesday, police responded to shots fired in the 300-block of Decaire Street in the Maillardville neighbourhood, finding a man suffering a gunshot wound when they arrived.
Within minutes, reports of a burned-out vehicle several blocks away prompted emergency fire units to douse a fully involved blaze as police units cordoned off the area and investigated any links to the shooting.
It’s not clear whether either of the two Coquitlam shootings this week is connected or whether they are linked to a rise in gang violence across the Lower Mainland.
In January, a drive-by attack in a Burke Mountain neighbourhood sent a man to hospital, and a shooting in a Burquitlam condo building a few days later — only 300 metres from the latest incident — provoked a similar massive response from the RCMP Lower Mainland Emergency Response team after a woman was found bleeding in the lobby.
