Update: IHIT says the person found dead is a 33-year-old Pitt Meadows man who is not known to police. Investigators say
A person is dead after a shooting in the parking lot of a Maple Ridge, B.C. church early Saturday morning.
Witnesses reported hearing gunfire coming from the Haney Presbyterian Church, located on 216th Street just off the Lougheed Highway, between three and four a.m.
A body was found in a car in the church’s parking lot, blood splattered on the windows.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team confirmed the death, but won’t say much more. Police closed off a section of 216th Street almost all the way to Dewdney Trunk for much of the day as they conducted their investigation.
Residents in the area were rattled after learning of the shooting.
“I'm just so shocked right now, I'm supposed to ride a bus and the cop told me there's no way to go in there,” says Abigail Pasa, who lives nearby.
“This area is generally not too bad, if you go east about a mile, half a mile, it gets quite a bit rougher,” adds neighbor Lorna Leschien.
The identity of the victim has not yet been released. An investigation is underway.
With files from CTV Vancouver's Shaheed Devij
