POLICE SAY 'GANGSTER WANNABES' BEHIND RISE IN GUN CRIMES

Seizures of Guns in Vancouver This Year Are 43 Per Cent Higher Than
the Entire Year of 02

Vancouver police are troubled by the number of guns they're seeing
lately, and the kind of people who are carrying them.

Figures released Monday show gun seizures so far this year are up 43
per cent over the entire year of 2002.

Increasingly, it's not just hardened criminals who are carrying
handguns, but young men who believe their possession of the weapons
somehow enhances them.

"We're seeing a greater incidence of handguns being used in relation
to incidents," Vancouver police spokesman Const. Howard Chow said Monday

"We're seeing more drive-by shootings, we're seeing more assaults
where a handgun is pulled out, altercations that happen in the
downtown core where handguns are seen or seized or pulled out.

"We're seeing more individuals that are getting pulled over and when
we search their vehicles, we find more handguns in their vehicles."

Chow's comments follow a weekend shooting outside a downtown nightclub
that killed 23-year-old Lee Matasi, who had returned to Vancouver
after graduating in June from a three-year painting course at the
Ottawa School of Art. A 28-year-old man who was not known to police
has been charged with second-degree murder.

Chow said gangs, drugs and guns are a standard combination, given the
fears of gangsters and dealers that they may be attacked, but he sees
the new "gangster wannabes" as a bad indicator.

"What's even more alarming is that sometimes we're seeing some
individuals with very minimal criminal records that are carrying these
guns around," Chow said.

"What's of concern is that it could be an 'in' trend . . . that people
are carrying these firearms and coming into the downtown core."

Many nightclubs now use metal detectors, body frisks and
identification checks to try to keep weapons out. Special police teams
made up of emergency-response and gang-squad members check the
nighttime streets and bars for known gang members or anyone they think
might have a gun.

At this point, police are not certain where the guns are primarily
coming from, although smuggling from the U.S. plays a large part in
putting guns on the street.

"They're bringing guns up and they're getting a good dollar for them,"
said Chow.

He said a high-quality new gun can cost $2,000 to $3,000, but cheaper,
older ones can be had for $500 to $700.

Guns were on the street in a big way this weekend. In the West End,
two women had their purses taken at gunpoint early Saturday in events
which may be related to each other.

At 2:50 a.m., a woman walking home in the 1800-block of Haro Street
was accosted from behind by a man who stuck a gun in her back and
demanded her purse, which she handed over. The man then ran away.

The suspect is described as an East Indian male about 25 years old and
175 centimetres (5-feet-9) tall, wearing a white hooded sweatshirt and
a red-and-white puffy jacket. He had short, black, spiky hair.

At 6:50 a.m. in the 1000-block of Davie Street, a man approached a
woman from the front, pointed a gun at her and took her purse. He ran
from the scene.

The suspect is described as a 190-centimetre (6-foot-3) white male
about 86 kilograms (190 pounds) with black wavy hair, dark skin tone,
30 to 35 years old, and wearing dark clothing.

Shortly before the first robbery, seven blocks farther east on Haro,
police responded to a shots-fired call and found a 22nd-floor window
broken, apparently by a bullet fired from the street.

The couple living in the suite were awakened by a loud noise in their
living room and found broken glass. Police later located what they
believe is a bullet fragment lodged in the aluminum window frame.

Also on the weekend, police executing a search warrant on an apartment
in the 200-block of East 12th Avenue found a .45-calibre handgun and
64 grams of what is believed to be crack cocaine.

An unnamed 25-year-old man is facing a number of charges.

Chow's figures on guns in Vancouver are incomplete, but police say
there are enough numbers to show the trend.

With one month still to go, Vancouver police investigators have
amassed 461 firearms exhibits this year, meaning guns, cartridge
casings or anything else associated with shootings. They have
investigated 68 shooting incidents and seized 215 guns

Three years ago, those figures were 381 exhibits, with 59 shooting
incidents and 150 firearms seized.

Nor is Vancouver the only part of the Lower Mainland where guns are
causing concern.

Over the weekend, Delta police seized three handguns and arrested one
young man. In New Westminster, a 38-year-old man was near death Monday
as the result of a targeted shooting Sunday morning.

In Burnaby, a 45-year-old man was shot on the doorstep of his Dundas
Street home, and a 16-year-old showed up at an emergency ward shortly
afterward with a gunshot wound. Police said the two shootings were
related.