MURDER TRIGGERED GANG WAR

Source also links bloodshed to contracted attack

The Sunday morning shooting of 10 people outside a Vancouver west-side
restaurant was triggered by the murder of gangster Gurmit Dhak in a
Metrotown mall parking lot on Oct. 16, police said Monday.

Const. Jana McGuinness said all the victims had gang affiliations and
no one outside of their group was shot.

The gunfire erupted when a party of about 30 people left the Best
Neighbours Restaurant after closing time.

Bullets from an automatic weapon were sprayed at the group of men and
their girlfriends. A gun was later found by police just a block from
Mayor Gregor Robertson's home.

Meanwhile, a police source told The Province that the shooting was
linked to a home invasion in Vancouver that had been contracted out to
four hired thugs from Reno, Nev.

"[Sunday's shooting] looks like an immediate retaliation for the home
invasion," said the source. "All those injured in the shooting are
associates of the Independent Soldiers and their girlfriends."

McGuinness would not confirm the Reno link.

"We're not making the connection that's suggested by that source,"
said McGuinness. "We haven't made that connection."

McGuinness did say that three men from Nevada were charged with
weapons offences and a man from Surrey has charges pending against him
after the group tried to force their way into an apartment on Melville
Street in Vancouver on Dec. 10.

A large quantity of drugs were seized in the apartment and an occupant
was arrested for drug offences, she said.

Vancouver police Deputy Chief Const. Warren Lemcke said the people
shot Sunday range in age from 20 to 36 years old. They suffered wounds
ranging from critical to bullet grazes.

Vancouver police Chief Jim Chu said the spate of violence could be
triggered by several factors.

"This is an ongoing part of the gang war that has been going on for
some time now," said Chu. "It started with Gurmit Dhak.

"Sometimes, it's just the hostility towards rivals, sometimes they
shoot each other even if they have no reason to shoot each other."

Prof. Rob Gordon, a Simon Fraser University criminologist, said a drug
rip-off retaliation "sounds exactly like what you'd expect to be
behind this. This is competing groups looking for drug-market share or
it's retaliation for a previous incident.

"Unfortunately, it looks like we can expect more of this [gang
warfare.]"

Lemcke would not say what weapons were involved in the Oak Street
shooting, except to say an assault weapon was used.

The shooting hit close to home for Robertson, who lives a block away
and was at home with his wife and daughter when he heard gunshots.

"It was a lot of gunfire. It was very disturbing to hear. You get that
rotten, sinking feeling in your stomach when you realize what is going
on," he said.

Robertson said the city and the VPD will pull out all the stops to
deal with this "brazen gang violence."

"It's absolutely unacceptable. It's despicable to see an outburst like
this in a neighbourhood," he said.

Lemcke said the "primary issue" is that the shootings are occurring in
public places.

"The major concern here is that these shootings are occurring in
public and there is a potential for the public to be hurt," said Lemcke.

Police vowed to step up their presence in places where gangs are known
to congregate and to work with other police forces.

"There is no doubt you are going to see an increase in uniformed
Vancouver police presence in the next little while," said Lemcke.

Sunday's shooting came as Metro Vancouver's gang scene appears to be
increasingly unstable, as violent street gangs vie for dominance in
the void left by the exit of powerhouses such as the Red Scorpions and
United Nations gangs, whose leaders have been arrested over the past
several years.

Const. Ian MacDonald of the Abbotsford police said the Duhre Group,
with 50 to 100 street soldiers, has surged to dominance in the Fraser
Valley and is trying to expand across Metro Vancouver.