DRUG-SQUAD COPS SHOOT SUSPECT DURING ARREST

RCMP Say Man Tried To Run Police Officers Down With His Car

Eric Wadman was installing wiper blades on a friend's car Wednesday
afternoon when the sound of a gunshot broke the usual quiet of his south
Richmond residential neighbourhood.

"I've shot guns before so I know what they sound like," said Wadman, who
lives with his family a block off Williams Road, near No. 4 Road.

As he went down the alley to investigate the source of the noise, Wadman
saw two frightened teenage boys take off on bicycles, then a handful of
policemen with their guns drawn.

"It was interesting," Wadman said of the scene.

In a press conference held at the scene on Aquila Road, police revealed
what had happened.

Richmond RCMP Const. Peter Thiessen said an officer with the detachment's
drug squad had shot and wounded a man in his late teens or early 20s around
1:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The man - whose name won't be released until charges are laid - had been
stopped by four plain-clothed officers moments earlier in his car, a small
red vehicle, on suspicion of selling drugs.

"As they (the officers) approached the suspect vehicle, he attempted to run
over several of our members," Thiessen said.

"One officer shot once, and the suspect fled in his vehicle."

The bullet shattered the driver's side rear window and struck the suspect.

After a brief pursuit, the man was pulled over and arrested a few blocks away.

He was taken to Richmond Hospital where he remains for treatment of what
police describe as a "non-life threatening" gunshot wound.

A police officer was also taken to the hospital. Thiessen said the officer
suffered minor leg injuries as a result of being struck by the vehicle.

Thiessen said police recovered a large quantity of drugs at the scene "that
the suspect appeared to have dropped," but he wouldn't comment on what sort
of drugs were involved.

Wadman and his wife, Tara Baker, said the shooting was a dramatic example
of just how serious drug problems in the area are becoming.

"It's getting pretty bad," said Baker. "Two doors down from me there's
adrug grow-op. I don't know what we can do."

"I've seen drugs being sold in the back alley," said Wadman.

Some in the neighbourhood point their fingers at McNair secondary school,
which can be seen from Aquila Road.

But students at McNair said their school has an undeserved bad reputation.

"I hear stories about McNair, but there's nothing to them," said
14-year-old John Lillico.

Aman Sharma, 16, said drugs are a reality on the school grounds, but said
the surrounding neighbourhood was still safe.

"It's not a big issue here," he said.