The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team is looking into a shooting in Surrey early Saturday morning that left one man dead and another injured.
Surrey RCMP received reports of shots fired in the area of 152 Street and 66A Avenue at 12:15 a.m.
They arrived to find two men with gunshot wounds. One victim was rushed to hospital but did not survive. The other victim suffered a non-life-threatening injury and is set to undergo surgery.
Police will not confirm the identity of the deceased man, but friends and family confirmed to Global News his name was Surinder Hehar. The father of two young boys, Hehar was on his way to work as a longshoreman at Deltaport. They say he was being picked up by a coworker when the shooting happened outside his home.
Sgt. Stephanie Ashton says public safety is of paramount concern while IHIT investigators, Surrey RCMP and other Lower Mainland units work to determine the circumstances that led up to the shooting.
She says investigators believe the shooting was targeted although there’s no indication it’s connected to any other investigation in the Surrey area.
According to the RCMP’s third quarter statistics, violent crime in Surrey is up 40 per cent over last year, although homicides were down 59 per cent before today’s fatal shooting.
One hundred new police officers were promised for Surrey in the last municipal election. One year later, 66 new members are on the job – and earlier this week, the city appointed Terry Waterhouse as its first director of public safety strategies.
WATCH: Waterhouse discusses his new job with Global News
Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner was unavailable for an interview today, but councillor Bruce Hayne said the city’s strategy on crime was working.
WATCH: This weekend’s violence won’t change Surrey’s reputation as the Lower Mainland’s crime centre. It comes a year to the week that Mayor Linda Hepner and her Surrey First slate swept into power, promising to get tough on crime. So how are they doing? John Daly takes a look.
– With files from Jennifer Palma and John Daly
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