A 21-year-old man is dead following a daytime shooting near the Coquitlam Centre shopping mall on Saturday (Jan. 6) — the third shooting in the area in three days.
The death occurred following tha third shooting, which happened shortly after 4 p.m. on Saturday in the area of Westwood Street and Glen Drive. Officers who responded there found one man suffering from life-threatening injuries, who was taken to hospital. Two suspects were seen running from the scene.
On Monday morning, the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team announced the man had died in hospital. The homicide team has taken over the investigation from Coquitlam RCMP and is asking for any witnesses or anyone with footage from the shooting scene to reach out.
Sgt. Timothy Pierotti of IHIT said the shooting was targeted but posed a serious risk to the public nonetheless, as it happened in a busy area during the day. He said they are investigating whether the shooting is connected to two others that happened in Coquitlam in recent days.
The first of the three occurred just before 3 p.m. on Thursday near Johnson Street and Glen Drive. RCMP say they received numerous reports of people shooting at a vehicle in the area. When officers arrived on scene, they found bullet holes and casings, as well as two suspects.
The following day around 10:30 p.m., RCMP were called to the second shooting. Arriving at David Avenue and Mitchell Street, officers found evidence of a shooting and an uninjured victim.
Insp. Darren Carr said in a statement Saturday night that they know the incidents have likely set the public on edge, but that the shootings have been “isolated, targeted and involving a small group of individuals.”
“We understand that these last three days have been incredibly stressful to the community and we want to assure the public that our officers are working tirelessly to advance all of these investigations,” Carr said Saturday.
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