Three Surrey slayings in 10 days does not signify a return to rampant gang violence

Three Surrey slayings in 10 days does not signify a return to rampant gang violence in the city, Mayor Dianne Watts said Sunday.

She said that despite two weekend slayings 12 hours apart, and a March 17 hit on a teenager, police have no indication there is a resurgence in gang warfare.

In fact, the Sunday-morning stabbing death of a young man in Cloverdale and the Saturdaynight shooting at a north Surrey McDonald's are unrelated to each other and to the murder of Huzaifa Kiani 10 days earlier, Watts said.

"There is no indication whatsoever that gang violence is on the upswing again," Watts said in an interview. "I think we have made significant strides in dealing with the gang problem in the Lower Mainland."

She said the slayings are tragic, but "they are not random acts."

"It is disturbing that conflicts between young people are getting resolved with guns and knives," Watts said.

Homicide investigators remained at two separate Surrey murder scenes throughout Sunday.

Cpl. Dale Carr of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team said investigators determined immediately that there was no link between the two weekend slayings.

The first victim, a 39-year-old known to police, was shot to death inside a busy McDonald's at Scott Road and 110 Ave. at about 6 p.m. Saturday with horrified onlookers nearby.

The second victim, a 22-year-old male also known to police, was stabbed after a series of fights outside a house party near 192nd Street and 70th Avenue. Police had been called to the party twice before the 4:20 a.m. call.

"Upon police arrival a male stabbing victim was identified. B.C. Ambulance Service was dispatched immediately as the male victim was in severe medical distress," Carr said Sunday. "Several persons at the scene were arrested and brought to the Surrey RCMP office for questioning in relation to the incident."

The man died about an hour later in hospital.

Carr said investigators would be canvassing the area into today for information about the stabbing.

Before Kiani's March 17 slaying, IHIT had not opened a new file in two months.

Carr said while the violence is disturbing, there is nothing to indicate a new rash of gangland slayings like those that plagued Metro Vancouver last year.

"The second murder Sunday has nothing to do with the first one on Saturday. The second one is not gang-related or drug-related. It is a party spillover-type situation," Carr said.

As for the Saturday slaying, Carr said investigators have identified the victim, who was from Surrey, but not the suspect who escaped on foot.

Police were canvassing Sunday for surveillance footage of the murder and its aftermath.

Carr said there was a camera capturing images right inside the McDonald's.

"I think there is some evidence on tape," Carr said. "The tape in the McDonald's restaurant is going to be vital to the investigation."

Carr said that although the murder took place in a busy fast-food restaurant, it doesn't appear the killer arrived intending to take out his target.

Because the shooting happened near the back of the restaurant, by the bathrooms, the impression is that the two men knew each other and had a chance exchange that led to violence at close range.

"It wasn't a case where a guy walked in and started shooting across the restaurant. Those types of shootings, they are extremely frightening," Carr said.