INDO-CANADIAN GANGS BLAMED FOR SHOOTING

Port Moody Woman In Critical Condition

Police believe that Indo-Canadian gang activity is responsible for the
gunfire that seriously injured a Port Moody woman as she watched
television at home Friday night.

Const. Phil Reid said that a drug rip-off gone sour involving at least
seven gang members led to the gunshots that ripped into three
condominiums.

"We suspect that it was a drug rip-off, an ambush of unknown parties,"
he said.

Police believe one of the parties involved used to live in Port Moody,
and suspect that the Maude Road area was a meeting place at one time.

Around 9:15 p.m., police received dozens of phone calls about shots
being fired at 301 Maude Rd., a quiet condominium complex near Ioco
Road and Heritage Mountain Boulevard.

Residents who heard gunfire had run out onto their balconies and saw a
black pickup truck and a black Hummer speed away from the area. They
also saw two people running from the upper area of the complex, where
there is a stairway between two buildings.

Reid said forensic evidence points to the shots being fired from that
courtyard area.

Then, residents looked into a broken ground-floor window to see
40-year-old Laurie Lynn Tinga lying on the floor, bleeding.

One neighbour rushed in to give first aid until paramedics
arrived.

Scott Jenner was lying in bed when he heard the gunshots.

Jenner got up and went to his window, where he saw a black truck
speeding away and the Hummer not far behind.

"I was on the phone for 911 right away, but I couldn't get through,"
he said.

He went outside onto his deck with the phone and saw neighbours going
into Tinga's condo, which is below his corner suite and two units
over. They told him that someone had been shot and to call an ambulance.

Tinga was taken by ambulance to Royal Columbian Hospital, where she is
in critical, but stable condition. She suffered a gunshot wound to the
head.

"She's in critical condition in hospital and although it's been
upgraded to stable, certainly her injuries are extreme where her
quality of life is definitely going to be affected," Reid said.

Tinga, who recently moved to Port Moody from North Vancouver, is the
mother of a 15-year-old girl but was alone at the time of the shooting.

As officers arrived at the scene, they saw a speeding pickup go down
Knowle Street and collide with an ambulance parked at the ambulance
station at Ioco Road and Murray Street. Two people got out of the
pickup and started running.

Reid said the driver ran into the fire department, claiming that
something had happened to him.

"The fire department and personnel there obviously know this fella's
in trouble for some reason," Reid said.

Police took the driver into custody overnight, but he was released the
next day. The passenger is still on the loose.

In the meantime, Port Moody police had broadcast that they were
looking for a black Hummer. A short time later, Coquitlam RCMP stopped
a black Hummer in Port Coquitlam, detaining three people from the vehicle.

No weapon was found and all three were released a few hours
later.

Meanwhile, two other units in the condo were hit by stray bullets.
Nobody was home in one suite and a father and son were at home in
another. Reid said the pair had gone to get something in the kitchen
and when they came back they realized that someone had shot through
their patio window.

They were not injured.

"We suspect they would have been injured, too, if they had been in the
room," Reid said.

Police have said that it's a matter of time before a bystander gets
hurt or killed.

"We in the police community have said all along someone's going to get
injured as a result of all of the gunplay that's out there," Reid said.

"Here we are in little old Port Moody where one of our citizens
succumbs to not just a slight injury, a severe injury which is
critical to her, and again the quality of her life is going to be
changed forever."

Reid said the police have nobody in custody, but they are appealing to
the Indo-Canadian community for help.

"People might have information that might help us solve who injured
Ms. Tinga."

Reid said this type of violence is "totally uncommon" in Port Moody
and this is an isolated incident.

"It's certainly not because we have an Indo-Canadian gang problem in
Port Moody, because I just don't believe we do," he said. "You can't
stop the travelling criminal."

Some residents say the shooting is yet another incident that shows the
NewPort Village community is going downhill.

However, Reid disagrees.

"Everything becomes very magnified when something like this happens,"
he said. "Port Moody's still a very safe community."

Last August, another shooting near Heritage Mountain Boulevard and
Ioco Road caught the public's attention. Martina Seymour was chased
and shot numerous times in the street by her ex-boyfriend, Antonio
James Pinheiro, before being rescued by bystanders. Pinheiro was shot
dead by police in Port Coquitlam after a chase across the Tri-Cities.

Reid said he suspects that people still haven't fully recovered from
that dramatic incident.

"Everything's very rare here in Port Moody," Reid said. "Those are so
isolated that you're shocked when you hear or see another very violent
incident."

Jenner said the strangest part of the shooting is that it happened in
Port Moody.

"It can happen in any community, from the look of it," he said. "If it
can happen here, it can happen anywhere.

"But it won't scare me away from Port Moody."

u Port Moody police are asking anyone with information about this
crime to call the Port Moody Police Department at 604-461-3456 or
Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.