Police said that at 3 p.m., officers were called after reports of gunfire near Nanaimo and Dundas Street. A 19-year-old man was found with gunshot wounds and taken to hospital in serious condition.
No arrests have been made and investigators continue to speak with witnesses and canvass for any video in the area to help identify potential suspects.
While still early in the investigation, the shooting is believed targeted and drug-related.
“Shootings are usually targeted at individuals who are involved in high-risk behaviour associated to guns, drugs or gangs — this attack appears no different” said Cst. Brian Montague. “However, when they take place in the middle of the day and in residential neighbourhoods, they put everyone at risk.”
A woman at the scene told reporters Wednesday that her daughter’s boyfriend was the shooting victim. She said he was shot in the lane behind her apartment building.
Mark Cunningham, who lives in the 2400-block of Triumph Street close to the shooting scene, said he heard what he believed were six gunshots in an alleyway behind his house, but didn’t know anything about the circumstances or victim. “I opened the back door and heard two males shouting. Then I heard the door slam and the car drive off.”
Cunningham, who called 9-1-1, said that a black truck in the alley behind his house had its glass shattered, but didn’t know if it was from the shooting.
Alex Scott, a resident of a house on Dundas Street on the other side of the cordoned-off back alley, said some kids told him that a 17-or-18-year-old man had been shot. “They said they saw a young guy on a stretcher.”
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact the Vancouver police major crime section at 604-717-2541 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
