SHOOTINGS AT BASEMENT SUITE, GROW-OP MAY BE LINKED

Gunplay at two Burnaby homes earlier this week may be linked, Burnaby RCMP say.

In the latest incident, 11 bullets slammed into a basement suite in the
8400-block 14th Avenue between 6:15 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, said Cpl.
Pierre Lemaitre.

A mother and her children, aged eight and 13, who lived in the suite were
out shopping at the time, he said.

Lemaitre said it's likely a case of mistaken identity.

"Somebody was trying to send a message to whoever they thought was living
there," he said.

The residents were "very shaken up."

Lemaitre said the shooting may be linked to shots fired at about 11:30 p.m.
Monday in the 8600-block Gilley Avenue during a home invasion at a
marijuana grow-op.

Police found two bullet holes in the front living room window of the house
and one in the window sill.

The man living in the house told police he was asleep when he heard someone
breaking in the front door. He said three masked men stormed in and one
tried to spray him in the face with pepper spray.

The sprayer apparently malfunctioned, Lemaitre said, at which point the
resident grabbed one of the masked invaders by the scruff of the neck and a
belt loop and hurled him through an iron guard rail leading to the front door.

The 40-year-old man said he heard someone yelling "shoot him, shoot him"
and he scrambled for cover and for a plastic shotgun he kept in the house.

Police found a marijuana grow operation in the house and seized 1,067
plants. Officers also arrested a 36-year-old Romanian woman wanted on an
immigration warrant.