Two people were killed and two others wounded in multiple shootings in Langley, B.C., on Monday morning, while the man believed to have been responsible is also dead, police say.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team identified the shooter Monday as Jordan Daniel Goggin.
They said he was known to police for “non-criminal contacts.” The motive for the shooting remains unknown.
RCMP responded to multiple reports of shots fired at several locations throughout the City of Langley, as well as one scene in the Township of Langley that involved “transient” victims, according to an emergency alert sent to people’s cellphones around 6:20 a.m. The public was told to stay away from the area while a suspect associated with a white car was at large.
A second alert at 7:22 a.m. said the suspect was “no longer a threat.”
In an update later in the morning, police confirmed Goggin was dead and that four others had been shot.
A woman near 203A St and Fraser Highway was taken to hospital in critical condition, they said, while one man’s body was found at Creek Stone Place on 201 Street and another at the Langley City bus loop near Glover Road and Logan. A fourth victim was found near the Langley Bypass with a gunshot wound to the leg.
There were also reports that shots may have been fired into a number of closed or unoccupied businesses, police added.
Timeline of events
At a news conference Monday afternoon, Sgt. David Lee with the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team said the gunfire had started around midnight at the Cascade Casino, with the second at 3 a.m. at Creek Stone Place, the third at 5 a.m. at the bus loop, and a fourth at 5:45 a.m. at the Langley Bypass.
Goggin was then shot and killed by police.
Kim Snow, a homeless advocate with Kimz Angels, told Global News the two people who died were homeless. Police did not provide any information on the victims.
Snow said she is “angry, frustrated, sad (and) disappointed” at the situation for homeless people in Langley, especially with the rising costs of food and housing.
“They are suffering souls. They are just people that need a place to live, they need chances. They are not on the street by choice,” she said.
On Monday afternoon, yellow police tape surrounded a sandwich shop and a parking lot in Langley at one of the shooting scenes, while a black tent with LMD Forensics on the side had been set up at another.
At a third scene, the windshield and driver’s window of an unmarked black police SUV were riddled with bullet holes near the Spence Diamonds store at the Langley Centre.
A white four-door sedan was parked next to the forensic tent a short distance from the black SUV. Nearby, orange cones surrounded a blue sleeping bag and a bicycle, while a pair of shoes and a piece of clothing were taped off in the middle of the street.
The Independent Investigations Office, which investigates incidents of serious harm or death involving police, has been called in.
“At this time, we don’t know the motive behind this deadly incident, nor if there was any relationship between the deceased suspect and the victims,” Chief Supt. Ghalib Bhayani, operations officer for the Lower Mainland District RCMP.
“We ask that (the) public continue to assist us by providing any information that may be able to assist our investigation. Significant resources have been deployed to Langley to assist with determining what took place and why and we appreciate the public’s patience and cooperation as we deal with multiple locations throughout the Langley area.”
Why was an emergency alert issued?
The emergency alerts sent to people’s cellphones were just the second time the RCMP has used it in B.C., Bhayani said. The first was for an active shooter in Vanderhoof in 2021.
Monday’s shootings met the criteria used for emergency alerts, which are used to inform the public that a very serious incident that could affect multiple people is underway.
Bhayani said officers had a reason to believe there was an active threat, that the situation was unpredictable and could evolve very quickly, and that there was sufficient information available regarding the threat and the geographic area involved.
The alert is specific to the geographic area, he added, but that could have included neighbouring communities as people travel to and from the Langley area.
On Monday afternoon, B.C.’s Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said there will be a review of how the alert was used and the information that was contained in the alert.
“Police are always working with a dynamic and changing situation,” he said.
“The bottom line is this, they made decisions based on the information that they had, on the critical ensuring of public safety. The area where the shootings took place is a very high-traffic area, very densely populated, communities use it going from Chilliwack, Abbotsford, all the way through the valley, and likewise, coming from Richmond, Vancouver, going out that way. So there would be a wide-ranging alert in place.”
Langley 'needs to come together'
“We had a tragedy this morning in our neighbourhoods in the City of Langley and our prayers, thoughts and hearts go out to all family and friends affected by this tragedy,” Langley City Mayor Val van den Broek said in a tearful voice at the news conference.
She said it was an isolated incident as far as they know, and they are doing “everything they can to help people.”
Van den Broek added the people of Langley need to come together and work through this and she knows the community can step up to help.
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