A man in his 60s was gunned down near the front door of his North Vancouver home in what appears to be a targeted murder.
North Vancouver RCMP do not have a suspect in custody after the shooting, which took place in the 4000-block of St. Georges Avenue at around 1:15 p.m.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team has taken over the case after the man died as a result of his wounds, despite first responders' attempts to save his life. Neither the victim nor the suspect has been identified.
“At this point we have no specific information to indicate anything in terms of suspect description or vehicle,” Sgt. Bari Emam told CTV News. “This does not appear to be a random attack, however, the motive and the specifics in terms of how the suspect or suspects may have caught up to the victim and why…those are things we’re trying to ascertain.”
Emam confirmed the shooting took place near the door of the residence, but police are still gathering information from witnesses.
In an unusual move, police set up roadblocks in their hunt for a suspect that choked southbound traffic to the Lions Gate and Second Narrows bridges. Traffic was backed up for hours at the major routes.
“In short, we are going to do what we have to do to catch the bad guys,” said Insp. Randy Marquardt. “If that means we are going to be closing a bridge and funneling people through that to look for potential suspects, we will do that.”
Marquardt reassured North Vancouver residents they weren’t in danger following the targeted attack.
“They are safe. We have IHIT here investigating, North Vancouver Serious Crimes section is assisting in that investigation,” he said. “This is not a random act, and with that I’m confident in saying they are safe.”
The Lions Gate and Second Narrows bridges were completely reopened shortly after the closures.
The incident was North Vancouver's first homicide of the year.
Anyone with information is asked to call the IHIT tipline at 778-290-5290 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
