The woman who was injured in a shooting at Vancouver’s Oppenheimer Park last month was “accidentally” shot by her own son, Vancouver police revealed Friday.
Police say they have wrapped up their investigation into the Oct. 26 shooting, but won’t recommend charges because “everyone involved has been uncooperative.”
“VPD investigators worked diligently for the past month to solve this crime, which caused significant concern in the community and drew more negative attention to the park,” Sgt. Steve Addison said in a statement.
“Although we now know what happened, unfortunately everyone involved, including the victim, has been unwilling to cooperate with the police investigation.”
Police say the 53-year-old victim showed up at hospital mid-afternoon and reported being shot in the arm while she was stopped in a vehicle on Dunlevy Avenue, just outside the Downtown Eastside park.
The woman had come to Vancouver from Powell River, B.C., to visit “an associate” who is staying at the encampment in the park, according to police.
Police say the woman had surgery for the gunshot wound in Vancouver but has since left the city.
The woman’s son was quickly identified as the suspected shooter, according to police. Investigators believe the son, who’s in his mid-30s, accidentally discharged a gun while speaking to his mother near the vehicle.
The son was arrested days after the shooting for a different violent offence, and police seized the gun which investigators linked to the Oppenheimer shooting.
No names have been released and the suspect remains in custody.
The shooting was the latest in a string of violent incidents reported at the park and the surrounding Downtown Eastside in recent months, where police say public safety is “deteriorating.”
In September, the neighbourhood was rocked by three shootings in a 15-hour period, at least one of them close to Oppenheimer Park.
Last month, police arrested three men and thwarted a murder plot linked to a gang conflict in the Downtown Eastside. According to the police statement Sunday, the target of that plot was a rival drug trafficker who operates near Oppenheimer.
Deputy Chief Const. Howard Chow has said the park is acting “like a magnet” for crime, saying there was a “direct nexus” between growing violence in the DTES and the encampment.
The Oppenheimer tent city grew to more than 200 campers over the summer.
In August, the bulk of those campers moved into single-room occupancy (SRO) hotel housing, but many remained, accusing the city of not doing enough to provide housing options.
At a meeting in September, the park board voted for a “collaborative” approach to finding shelter for the remaining campers in an effort to clear the park without a court injunction.
Vancouver city council approved a similar motion last month, calling for staff to address increased supports and to work with provincial ministers to look “aggressively” for land and funding for modular housing, while trying to find winter shelter options for the city’s 600 street homeless people.
In the meantime, police have pledged to deploy more officers to the Downtown Eastside and look at mounting a stationary camera in efforts to curb escalating crime.
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