The man gunned down outside a New Westminster halfway house Thursday morning was a “criminal entrepreneur” who sold guns and ordered arsons before he was jailed a decade ago, CTV News has learned.

Red Scorpion associate Steven Porsch is expected to survive the attack, which has New Westminster politicians defending the halfway house but calling for more security measures to deter targeted attacks.

“I can tell you it is Steven Porsch,” said acting New Westminster Mayor Lorrie Williams. “The fellow is in hospital and is at present expected to survive.”

It’s not clear what the motive was for targeting Porsch, who had only recently been let out of prison after serving some two-thirds of his 16-year sentence.

He was considered “perfect” by his mother, but had been leading a double life since he was 15, Justice Janice Dhillon found.

Over five months in 2005, Porsch sold 40 firearms, mostly reconstructed military weapons, to an undercover police officer for $138,400, the judge found.

He also commissioned arsons of Abbotsford’s Wild Bill’s Pub and Finnegan’s Pub, paying between $5,000 and $7,500 per fire – crimes meant to eliminate owner Paul Esposito from competition, the judge found.

Porsch was netted by a “Mr. Big” sting in 2006. It’s not clear whether Porsch changed in prison, and his lawyers didn’t return calls.

New Westminster Councillor Bill Harper said the halfway house, Genesis House, has never had an attack like this before.

“It’s been one of the really good stories in the city. We’ve had almost no issues with Genesis in the past,” he said.

Harper said the city trusts the National Parole Board and other agencies to properly gauge the risk offenders pose – but it’s hard to gauge whether they’ll be targeted by others.

An incident in 2009 at Dick Bell-Irving House in Vancouver, where another gangster was gunned down nearby, prompted that halfway house to ban gangsters.

But Williams said New Westminster isn’t ready to take a step like that.

“Where do they go if they don’t go to a halfway house? Do we put them on the street?” she asked.

She wants to see greater security measures put in place there, including more cameras, patrols, and other safety measures.