A 40-year-old man slated to appear in court on drug charges this week was found inside an apartment building Saturday night, prompting Vancouver's first murder probe of 2016.
Officers were called to 2425 Granville St. near West Broadway just before 11 p.m. There they found the body of 40-year-old Christopher Denis Kwik of Vancouver.
Kwik had suffered a gunshot wound, but officers have not confirmed how he died.
Police believe the attack was targeted, and that the victim was likely dead for some time before his body was discovered. Kwik was not a resident of the apartment unit he was found in.
Kwik was scheduled for a court appearance on Tuesday for three charges of possession for the purposes of trafficking, police say. He had one criminal conviction and was last arrested in October.
Residents and neighbours say South Granville is not an area typically associated with a violent murder.
“I’ve never heard about something like this, so it's quite shocking,” said Harjinder Ramgarhua, who’s owned a furniture store next door for seven years.
“It’s just very surprising. This is a nice part of town.”
Allison Waters lives one floor above the unit where Kwik’s body was found.
“Underneath my feet somebody lost their life,” she told CTV News, noting she returned home from work at midnight to find her building behind police tape and part of a crime scene.
No suspect has been arrested, and an investigation is ongoing.
Vancouver had 15 murders in 2015.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact the VPD Homicide Unit at 604-717-2500 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
With files from CTV Vancouver's Sarah MacDonald
