RESIDENTS SAY DEALERS RUINING PARK

A 22-year-old Delta man is in serious condition after being shot early
Thursday morning on Laity Street at Lion's Park - an area that neighbours
say is frequented by drug dealers.

A business owner on 207 Street says he saw the incident unfold a few doors
down from him at the Husky gas station. According to the witness, the
paramedics pulled a man out of a car with a blown-out window and took him
away by ambulance.

"Someone really needs to put their food down," the witness said. "The
people you see at night running around out here are into a lot more than we
think."

Mike Grewal is the owner of the 207 Street Husky station, and says he has
no idea what happened, as the store was closed at the time of the incident.

"My cashier came in at 4:45 in the morning and was stopped by police
because there was yellow tape put up," Grewal said. "They didn't say what
they were investigating."

Grewal says police later asked him for a video surveillance tape, however
he was unable able to produce one as the gas station is not equipped with
cameras.

A woman living on McIntyre Court, whose backyard faces Laity Street,
suspects that the shooting is related to drug activity in the area. She
says Lion's Park is a popular place for young adults who go there to smoke
pot and hang out.

"A six a.m. one morning I saw a man who was higher than a kite walk right
into a fence," the woman said. "I don't let my kids go past the corner
alone because of the suspicious people who wander through the neighbourhood."

Another neighbour who also lives on McIntyre Court says she has seen pot
being dealt in the park and suspects that the dealers live close by.

"Everyone around here knows of that house," the woman said.

Both women are shaken up by Thursday's shooting and say that they will be
more cautious of their surroundings.

"If it happens one more time I'm out of here. It's a little too close to home."

The shooting took place just steps from Glenwood Elementary School, sending
some parents into a panic. Glenwood principal Heather McPherson said she
was assured by Ridge Meadows RCMP that while there was a police
investigation going on nearby, the children were safe.

"Of course we were concerned about the safety of the children," McPherson
said. "Our RCMP liaison spoke at an assembly and told the children that
they were safe."

RCMP had a section of Laity Street near Dewdney Trunk Road blocked off for
most the day while the Serious Crime Unit and the Integrated Homicide
Investigational Team searched the area.

The victim was transported to Royal Columbian Hospital in New Wesminster
where he is listed in serious condition. According to Ridge Meadows RCMP,
the shooting is not believed to be a random act.