A Surrey radio host is speaking out about how she could have been hit by a stray bullet in a shooting that happened on Monday night.
“This was a shocker,” Swift Radio host and former MLA Jinny Sims said.
“Unexpected.”
On Tuesday, Surrey police confirmed they were called to the building housing Swift 1200 AM, on 76 Avenue, after a staff member noticed evidence of a shooting.
While the bullet holes are still visible from the outside, Sims told Global News that if the hosts were on air at the time the bullets started flying, they likely wouldn’t have survived the attack.
“As a host, I sit in this chair, and you can see the bullet hole,” Sims said.
“This is a frontal attack on media and free speech and it is very, very worrisome… I just never thought that it would happen in British Columbia, in Canada.”
Sims believes this is related to the violent extortion attempts that have been plaguing the City of Surrey and the surrounding communities.
Swift Radio’s most recent segment covered extortion cases and the Bishnoi Gang being declared a terrorist organization with guest Surrey Police Service’s Chief Const. Norm Lipinski.
“At this time, we believe the incident to be extortion-related and our Extortion Task Force will be taking over the case,” Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton, media relations officer with the Surrey Police Service, said.
“Surrey police and other police agencies have spoken with the business owner in the past and that’s what leads us to believe this is extortion-related.”
Houghton said that, as of Sept. 22, there were 48 reports of extortion-related incidents in the City of Surrey.
Houghton said the provincial extortion task force is now taking the lead on the investigation.