SURREY, B.C. - Police say recent shootings in Metro Vancouver that injured four innocent bystanders appear to be connected to street-level drug trafficking.
Chief Supt. Ghalib Bhayani, the operations officer for the RCMP in the Lower Mainland, says since last April, anti-gang enforcement teams have been expanded and gun violence decreased late last year.
In a statement, Supt. Duncan Pound of B.C.'s anti-gang squad says its investigations into the shootings in Langley, Surrey and Coquitlam — in which one person was killed and the bystanders were hurt — indicate they appear to be connected to the drug trade.
Pound says police don't believe there are any direct links to the Lower Mainland gang conflict.
He says street-level violence can escalate, drawing in groups that are connected to the gang conflict.
But he says police agencies are working together to ensure the violence doesn't escalate.
