Abbotsford Police say a shooting early Wednesday morning is not connected to a gang-style shootout a day earlier.

In the latest incident, police were called to a rural home on Huntington Rd. around 2:00 a.m. Wednesday where they found a 42-year-old male had been shot in the torso. A police dog then tracked down two other men at the back of the house.

They say the men had escaped from a shed on the property, where they had been tied up with zap straps.

Officers also discovered a marijuana grow operation on the property and suspect that the shooting likely had something to do with it.

"All indications are that this was a grow-rip that went bad," said Constable Casey Vinet in a statement.

The shooting victim is in hospital and is expected to undergo surgery.

It's been a busy week for Abbotsford Police. On Tuesday, they were called to a Keg restaurant after a black Mercedes crashed into a concrete stairway.

The Mercedes, believed to belong to alleged Red Scorpion gang member Jamie Bacon, was involved in a shootout in traffic with another vehicle around the intersection of South Fraser Way and Sumas Way before it crashed.

Abbotsford Police will not confirm it was Bacon in the Mercedes but they did say the driver was well known to them.

The driver was wearing what appeared to be a bullet proof vest.

Police are still looking for the passengers of the other car.

A growing problem

The recent spate of violence in the city has the Abbotsford business community speaking out. Abbotsford Chamber of Conference President Alvin Epp has been in contact with Public Safety Minister Jon van Dongen to express the Chamber's worries.

"We were once again expressing our concerns about the increasing level of blatant and overt criminal activity in Abbotsford and particularly the propensity of what is generally seen to be organized criminals using guns, it's just getting worse by the month," says Executive Director David D. Hull.

Hull says he doesn't want to see the city's image tarnished because of crime.

"We don't want the reputation. You look at Surrey its reputation was sullied many years ago and it's taken a complete effort by Mayor (Diane) Watts and the population of Surrey to start rebuilding Surrey as a decent place."

The chamber initiated a study last year to look at what other cities have done to prevent crime. It concluded that the first step in tackling crime was to develop an Abbotsford specific crime reduction strategy.

Hull will be back in front of Abbotsford City Council later this month to lobby Councilors to adopt such a strategy.