(Langley) Three people are dead, including the suspected shooter, and a woman is in critical condition after a series of shootings in Langley, Metro Vancouver, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said.
Updated yesterday at 5:39 p.m.
The first shots were fired around midnight on Monday, and the suspect was eventually intercepted and shot dead by police near the last person injured, around 5:45 a.m.
However, police issued an alert on mobile devices only around 6:20 a.m., saying they were at the scene of several shootings involving victims, more than six hours after the first event.
RCMP Sergeant David Lee, however, assured that the alert was sent “at the appropriate time”, when investigators were able to link all the incidents.
Mr. Lee confirmed that the suspect was known to the police, but that more time will be needed before the full thread of events can be drawn up.
RCMP Chief Superintendent Ghalib Bhayani added that police do not know at this time the motive for the shooting or if there was a connection between the shooter and the victims.
“Although the investigation is continuing, everything suggests that there was no other person involved. There is no longer a threat to public security,” Mr. Bhayani said during a press briefing in the afternoon.
Police said in a statement that the two men who lost their lives and the injured woman were found in different locations, with numerous reports of shots being fired in the direction of closed or unoccupied businesses during the event.
Earlier, the RCMP said a suspect had been pulled over and warned people to stay away from downtown.
A second cell phone alert had been sent to say that there was no longer any danger.
A cafe and parking lot in downtown Langley were cordoned off with yellow police tape Monday morning, indicating a shooting occurred there. A black forensic identification tent was also erected near one of the crime scenes.
Nearby, the windshield and driver’s side window of an unidentified black police SUV were riddled with bullet holes near the Spence Diamond store.
A white four-door sedan, with its license plates obscured, was parked near the forensic science tent, very close to the black SUV.
A little further, orange cones surrounded a blue sleeping bag and a bicycle, while a pair of shoes and clothes lay in the middle of the street.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team had posted on social media that its investigators had been deployed to Langley to assist the RCMP in the investigation.
A statement released by police said the investigation involved multiple areas of the City of Langley and the Township of Langley.
Several areas of Langley were closed and police had asked people to stay away from these places, including the Cascades Casino and Langley Bus Terminal.