Police are investigating a targeted shooting near an East Vancouver school that left a 28-year-old man dead Wednesday evening.
The victim, who has been identified as Matthew Alexander Navas-Rivas, was walking his dog with a friend in the area of Cambridge and Nanaimo streets when a suspect approached and shot him shortly before 8 p.m.
The shooter then fled in a waiting vehicle. Investigators haven't provided a description of the vehicle, but a witness told CTV News they saw an SUV speeding away from the scene.
People who live nearby told CTV they heard upwards of a half dozen gunshots ring out in the neighbourhood.
"I heard seven high-register loud bangs," Corrina Keeling said. "My first thought was that sounded like gunshots, and immediately my Canadian brain was like, no, that couldn't be the case, must be kids with fireworks."
Police received several 911 calls about the gunfire, and officers quickly flooded the area around Tillicum Community Annex, an elementary school of about 100 students from kindergarten to Grade 4.
Witness video shows first responders performing chest compressions on Navas-Rivas in an attempt to save his life. Despite their efforts, he died shortly after being rushed to hospital.
Police said their investigation is still in its early stages, but they believe the shooting is targeted and that there is no risk to the general public. But the incident was still unsettling to people who live nearby.
"It's pretty scary because we all have kids and we live next door," Sarah Mitchell said. "This is an elementary school that this took place in so we're all pretty worried."
Navas-Rivas was known to police and had a long criminal history. He had been arrested by the Vancouver Police Department's gang squad in January and was facing 39 firearms-related charges. Most details of that case are sealed under a publication ban.
Court records reveal Navas-Rivas first went to jail in 2009 for assault causing bodily harm and unlawful confinement.
He was still on probation in 2010 when he participated in a home invasion prosecutors described as "a violent, unprovoked offence that terrified a family, including two children, in their own home."
Police say Navas-Rivas's connections could be a factor in his death.
"Retaliation is always a possibility, for sure," Const. Jason Doucette said.
Investigators are hoping to speak with anyone with information on what happened, and particularly drivers who have dash-cam video taken near Nanaimo and Cambridge streets between 7:30 and 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The shooting marks Vancouver's 12th homicide of 2018.
With files from CTV Vancouver's Allison Hurst, Breanna Karstens-Smith and Penny Daflos
