METRO VANCOUVER – Seventeen year-old Huzaifa Kiani was gunned down in the passenger’s seat of a friend’s car Wednesday in what police are calling a targeted hit.
The shooting took place in a quiet residential part of Surrey about 12:35 p.m. on Boundary Road South near 124th Street.
Cpl. Dale Carr, of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, said it is rare for a teenager to fall victim to gun violence.
“For a 17-year-old to get murdered, it is not a regular occurrence out there,” Carr said.
But it does happen, he said, recalling the slayings of two Abbotsford Grade 12 students a year ago after they got mixed up in drug dealing for the Red Scorpion gang.
Carr said the victim and his friend were known to police, though it is too early to say if the murder is linked to drugs, gangs or organized crime.
He said a dark-coloured vehicle pulled up beside the car Kiani was in just after noon on the side of the road and bullets started flying.
Kiani’s friend fled the scene to save himself, but then saw that Kiani had been hit, Carr said.
The friend, who is also 17, went to Kiani’s aid and drove the teen to Surrey Memorial Hospital. He died later Wednesday after being transferred to Royal Columbian.
Carr said Surrey RCMP got several 911 calls reporting shots fired around the time of the incident.
“Upon police attending the area, first responders identified and secured a scene that the shooting had taken place, however, there was not a victim present. Police immediately learned that the victim had been transported to a local area hospital,” he said.
“After a number of interviews with potential witnesses police now believe the suspect vehicle to be a dark-coloured vehicle – possibly green – was seen fleeing the area east on 60th Avenue from Boundary Drive South.”
Carr said investigators want potential witnesses to call the IHIT tipline at 1-877-551-IHIT.
Investigators were conducting neighbourhood inquiries Thursday.
A Facebook tribute page to Kiani had several hundred members within 24 hours of his death.
Many were Surrey high school students remembering a friend who they said liked to party.
“Rest in peace hun,” wrote Jessica Guerreiro. “You are never forgotten – you and your smile and your amazing way to make people around you smile.”
Manmeet Dhaliwal said the death was “way too shocking.”
“Just parting with you the other week and now you’re in a total different place. Rest in peace bro.”
On his own Facebook page, Kiani said he was to graduate from Princess Margaret secondary this year, though Carr said investigators do not believe Kiani was in school at the time of his death.
Carr said Kiani’s death was the first new case in eight weeks for IHIT – a remarkably long stretch after two years of record high murder rates across Metro Vancouver.
kbolan@vancouversun.com
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