A house belonging to a South Asian family was shot at on Monday at about 9:30 p.m. in the 31400 block of Southern Drive in west Abbotsford.
Police responded after receiving calls from neighbours and collected evidence from the scene including bullet casings. Neighbours reported hearing vehicles flee from the residential street quickly after the sound of gunfire. Fortunately, no one was injured.
Police sources told The VOICE on Tuesday that they believe it involves two South Asian groups.
On Wednesday, Abbotsford Police Department said in a press release: “One of the homes struck by bullets is associated to a known South Asian gang member. Occupants of that residence have not cooperated with the APD investigation and some of the information provided has actually been misleading. Although the motive for the shooting is still unknown, this does appear to be a targeted incident.”
Constable Ian MacDonald added: “The investigation cannot exclude the possibility that this shooting incident is related to other recent events. The Abbotsford Police Department is extremely concerned about potential escalating tensions and the threats to public safety that this incident could represent.”
Anyone with information about the shooting should call the Abbotsford Police Department at 604-859-5225, text them at 222973 (abbypd), or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
IN January, The VOICE reported that a civil suit filed by the Director of B.C. Civil Forfeiture in B.C. Supreme Court in December to claim two vehicles – a white Nissan Altima and a blue Nissan Altima – that were allegedly used in a shootout in which Harwindip Singh Baringh, 18, was killed in Abbotsford last October, has revealed that the incident was allegedly a clash between the Chahil and Dhaliwal crime groups.
Sources have told The VOICE that the conflict is an extension of the one going on in Vancouver’s South Slope that this newspaper has been covering extensively for the past year along with the Abbotsford situation.
Baringh was found shot dead in the driver’s seat of a dark coloured SUV in the 30500 block of Sparrow Drive in West Abbotsford after police responded at 7:45 p.m. on October 2 to reports of shots fired in the area of Sparrow Drive and Goldfinch Street.
No other potential victims or suspects were found. A vehicle or two were reported to have sped away.
The court document claims that Baringh was driving with a passenger in a Jeep Grand Cherokee that evening while his associates were following in a blue 2007 Altima. Surveillance cameras reportedly showed the Jeep and the blue Altima were following a white Acura and a white Altima.
The court document alleges that the occupants of the Jeep and blue Altima “were ambushed by occupants of the white Acura and the white Altima” at a turn.
Gunshots were exchanged between the occupants of the four vehicles and finally three of the vehicles took off, while the Jeep remained at the scene. Baringh’s body was found in the Jeep by the police.
The court document claims that “the white Altima has been used to engage in a violent ongoing gang conflict between the Dhaliwal and Chahil crime groups.”
Names of those involved in the alleged shootout were mentioned in the claim by the director of civil forfeiture.
But the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team has so far not announced any charges in the murder case.
– RATTAN MALL
