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Surrey mayoral candidates use latest homicide to push their anti-crime positions

Click to play video: 'Rampant gun violence key issue for Surrey voters in civic election'
Rampant gun violence key issue for Surrey voters in civic election
WATCH: The ongoing gun violence is top of mind for many voters in Surrey. As Paul Haysom reports, voters are demanding to know how the candidates running in the civic election are planning to crack down on the growing problem – Oct 12, 2018

The Thursday afternoon killing of a known gangster close to an elementary school in Surrey has the politicians reacting, just days ahead of the civic election Oct. 20.

In a statement, Surrey First mayoral candidate Tom Gill says the killing of 30-year-old Sumeet Randhawa reinforces the need for a full-on anti-gang campaign.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says the attack was targeted and was part of the ongoing gang conflict in Metro Vancouver.

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Gill says such a campaign should not just tackle the gangs, but also gang recruitment.

He wants to ban handguns in cities and add more police officers.

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But Safe Surrey Coalition mayoral candidate, Doug McCallum, is slamming Gill over the crime issue in the wake of the shooting.

In a statement, he points out Gill refused to answer a question about crime at a debate Wednesday evening, and two scheduled meetings of the Surrey Public Safety committee were cancelled during the summer while the RCMP need more officers.

McCallum says if he’s mayor, he will cancel the proposed Arts and Cultural Centre and use the $250 million to create a Surrey police force, doing away with the RCMP, all to make it tougher on the gangs.

Gill says he didn’t answer the crime question at Wednesday night’s debate, because his blood sugar was low and he wasn’t coherent at that point.

However, he managed to stay on stage and answer the remaining questions.

Afterwards, Gill told Global News reporter Janet Brown diabetes runs in his family, although he said he has not been diagnosed with it.

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