Caught on camera: Surrey jewelry store 'targeted' in shooting, RCMP say

Surveillance captured the moment when a barrage of gunfire erupted as a jewelry store was shot at in Surrey.

Just before 3 a.m. Monday, the video, posted to social media, shows a vehicle slowly pulling up in front of the store and then shots can be heard. At least 13 bullets hit the business.

“At the time there was nobody at the business and no injuries reported,” said Surrey RCMP Sgt. Tammy Lobb.

The incident involving ACC Jewelers was targeted, according to police.

“I don’t think we feel safe these days,” said Sunny Singh who works in the same plaza.

Samir Gandhi, who owns a business across the street, was also upset about what happened.

“I feel scared and unsafe over here. This is not good. This is not what Canada used to be,” he told CTV News.

Sgt. Lobb said the gunfire isn’t believed connected to a multi-province extortion plot targeting South Asian business owners. Those crimes have included everything from an arson in Edmonton to shootings in Ontario.

B.C. Premier David Eby remains concerned about the extortion attempts and said that various policing agencies in Canada are working together to investigate.

“Once you go down the road of businesses being asked to pay protection money, this kind of thing, it’s very hard to get out of it,” Eby said.

People at the shopping complex Tuesday said ACC Jewelers is not the first store in the area hit by gunfire recently. They are calling for more security and a greater police presence.

“It demotivates us from expanding our business because you don’t want to hit the category where you could become a potential target,” said Gandi.

Sunny Singh works at a restaurant near ACC and also worries about the impact of shootings on businesses.

“Of course, we’re going to have less customers, right, if people coming in and shooting just randomly. Of course people are going to be scared off,” Singh said.

Lobb said RCMP have been working with business owners in the area for several months now."which has included speaking to them about their safety and security concerns and conducting security assessments on their businesses.”

She also pointed out that violent incidents in Surrey have been declining for the past decade.

“Our statistics for shots fired incidents are actually down 31 per cent in 2023 from what they were in 2022. And our homicide statistics were actually down 50 per cent," the officer said.

ACC Jewelers was closed Tuesday.