DRUGS VERY LIKELY BEHIND SHOOTOUT, INSPECTOR SAYS

Two men were in hospital last night with gunshot wounds after a suspected
drug-related shootout in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

Six to seven shots were fired at 8:40 p.m. in Andy Livingston Park and
heard by soccer players on a nearby field. One witness called 911 and
police soon found a white man in his 30s on Keefer Street with a gunshot
wound to his leg.

"We have one person with a gunshot wound in St. Paul's Hospital," said
Insp. Gord Coburn of Vancouver police. "We also have another male in
Burnaby Hospital with gunshot wounds to his leg."

Police believe the second victim, another white man in his 30s, escaped and
drove to Burnaby.

Neither had life-threatening injuries.

"We have two different types of gun shells found at the scene here, so what
we're surmising is that two people were shooting at each other," said Coburn.

"It was probably a drug transaction."