4 shootings in Surrey in less than 24 hours include restaurant, police station

As Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke said, it was “quite a day in the City of Surrey,” following four separate shootings in the city on Monday.

The shootings targeted a restaurant and homes in the early morning hours, but the biggest incident happened in the middle of the day.

Multiple shots were fired along King George Boulevard just after 3 p.m. at the Gateway SkyTrain Station.

The suspect then took off toward the Whalley community policing station, where more shots were fired.

The Emergency Response Team was called in, and the suspect was arrested near the doorway of the station with the help of a police service dog.

Police confirmed the person was taken to the hospital to be checked over.

On Tuesday afternoon, Surrey police said that Jose Digno Rodriguez Centeno, 34 years old, has now been charged with one count each of:

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• Unauthorized possession of a firearm contrary to Section 91 (1) of the Criminal Code
• Pointing a firearm contrary to Section 87 (1) of the Criminal Code
• Reckless discharge of a firearm contrary to Section 244.2 (1) (b) of the Criminal Code
• Assault a police officer contrary to Section 270 of the Criminal Code
• Resist or willfully obstruct a police officer contrary to Section 129 (a) of the Criminal Code

Centeno has been remanded in custody and his next scheduled court appearance is on Oct. 10, police said.

“It is absolutely horrific that this has happened,” Surrey Coun. Linda Annis told Global News.

“To me, it shows laws aren’t tough enough. Criminals shooting at police community centres, I can’t imagine this even happening — and it’s happened once, is once too often.”

0:32 Surrey police investigating shooting at Indian restaurant

The bomb squad was also deployed as a package was left inside the police station, Surrey police confirmed, shutting down the area around the station for hours.

“The CCTV that we can get our hands on will be very helpful to our investigators, whether he was shooting at people or police officers, or whether he was indiscriminately shooting in the air, those are all questions that we want to answer,” Staff Sgt. Lindsay Houghton with the Surrey Police Service said.

“The individual is in custody, and we’ll be looking at potential charges. Those could range from firearms-related charges at the minimum, all the way to various assault level charges or attempted homicide.”

Global News has learned the suspect is known to police but a motive for the shooting remains unclear.