Police have identified the victim of a fatal Friday night shooting in Abbotsford.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team say Lovepreet "Jason" Dhaliwal, 24, was killed in a targeted hit.
Shots rang out in the 3500 block of Promontory Court at around 6:30 p.m, and officers arrived to find Dhaliwal inside a van with a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police say a black Acura TL left the scene immediately after the shooting. A burned out vehicle of the same description was later found in Langley on the 22300 block of 61st Avenue.
"We will be going through that vehicle very closely," Cpl. Frank Jang said at a press conference Saturday.
Victim in #AbbotsfordBC ID’ed as 24y/o Lovepreet “Jason” Dhaliwal. Blk 4dr Acura TL believed connected to shooting. Call IHIT w/ info. pic.twitter.com/9aooRxgCVr
— IHIT (@HomicideTeam) January 20, 2018
Witnesses who did not want to speak on camera told CTV News they heard up to eight gunshots. The shooting happened just under cameras police set up after a rash of gang violence.
According to IHIT, Dhaliwal was trying to leave a criminal lifestyle.
"My understanding is that Mr. Dhaliwal was working hard to better his life and to leave that criminal past behind him," Jang said.
This shooting happened on the same street where an innocent bystander was shot and killed in September 2015. Ping Shun Ao, a 74-year-old grandfather, died after his neighbour's house was targeted. At the time, police said it was related to ongoing gang conflict.
Police haven't said whether the Friday night shooting was related to the one in 2015.
This is the third gun-related death in Metro Vancouver this week. On Jan. 13, 23-year-old Kevin Whiteside and 15-year-old bystander Alfred Wong, an innocent bystander, were shot near Broadway and Ontario Street in Vancouver.
The case is being transferred to the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team. Anyone with information about the incident should call the IHIT tip line at 1-877-551-4448 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
With a report from CTV Vancouver's Breanna Karstens-Smith