B. C. resident shoots dead home invader
'Came To Wrong House'; Incident comes day after mother shot to death in car
VANCOUVER - The Public Safety Minister's visit to B. C.'s violence-wracked Lower Mainland was overshadowed yesterday by a home invasion that ended with a victim killing one of his attackers.
The latest shooting came a day after a mother was gunned down in the Vancouver suburb of Surrey as her four-year-old son watched from the back seat of their car.
In yesterday's incident, a south Vancouver mother watched in horror as two gunmen forced their way into her home and pointed a gun at her son.
Mabel Mohammed said the gunmen were asking for someone named Azim, whom the family say they do not know.
She told them they had the wrong house. They then shot and wounded her son Aleem, 19, in the shoulder.
His brother, Amir, then wrestled the gun away and shot one of the assailants dead. The other fled.
Nazreen Dean said neither of her brothers have any gang connections, and is convinced the gunmen came to the wrong home.
Ms. Dean said her brother was arrested for shooting the intruder.
The shooting came the same day as Peter Van Loan, the federal Minister of Public Safety, said Vancouver is Canada's centre of gang activity. It follows a rash of other shootings and gangland hits across the Lower Mainland.
On Monday, 23-year-old Nicole Marie Alemy of White Rock, B. C., was shot and killed while driving in Surrey. Her four-year-old son survived.
Police still are trying to determine why the woman was shot, said RCMP Corporal Dale Carr of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team.
"It has all the earmarks of a targeted hit," Cpl. Carr said.
The woman was driving south on 148th Street at about 10:30 a. m. when her Cadillac was sprayed with gunfire on the driver's side.
"It's just beyond comprehension. You can only hope that these individuals that are involved in this activity just didn't know the child was there," Cpl. Carr said. "That's the only thing I can imagine."
He said police could not say yet if the deadly attack had anything to do with a rash of other shootings and gangland hits across Metro Vancouver this year.
"We have not made any other links at this time to any other homicides, to any gang-type activity," he said. "
Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts, who has been lobbying for all levels of government to do something about gang warfare, was outraged by the apparent indifference of the shooters.
"You can see with this escalation, [gangsters] don't care. And if this is a redistribution of power with the gangs in the drug trade, it is only going to escalate," she said.
'Came To Wrong House'; Incident comes day after mother shot to death in car
VANCOUVER - The Public Safety Minister's visit to B. C.'s violence-wracked Lower Mainland was overshadowed yesterday by a home invasion that ended with a victim killing one of his attackers.
The latest shooting came a day after a mother was gunned down in the Vancouver suburb of Surrey as her four-year-old son watched from the back seat of their car.
In yesterday's incident, a south Vancouver mother watched in horror as two gunmen forced their way into her home and pointed a gun at her son.
Mabel Mohammed said the gunmen were asking for someone named Azim, whom the family say they do not know.
She told them they had the wrong house. They then shot and wounded her son Aleem, 19, in the shoulder.
His brother, Amir, then wrestled the gun away and shot one of the assailants dead. The other fled.
Nazreen Dean said neither of her brothers have any gang connections, and is convinced the gunmen came to the wrong home.
Ms. Dean said her brother was arrested for shooting the intruder.
The shooting came the same day as Peter Van Loan, the federal Minister of Public Safety, said Vancouver is Canada's centre of gang activity. It follows a rash of other shootings and gangland hits across the Lower Mainland.
On Monday, 23-year-old Nicole Marie Alemy of White Rock, B. C., was shot and killed while driving in Surrey. Her four-year-old son survived.
Police still are trying to determine why the woman was shot, said RCMP Corporal Dale Carr of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team.
"It has all the earmarks of a targeted hit," Cpl. Carr said.
The woman was driving south on 148th Street at about 10:30 a. m. when her Cadillac was sprayed with gunfire on the driver's side.
"It's just beyond comprehension. You can only hope that these individuals that are involved in this activity just didn't know the child was there," Cpl. Carr said. "That's the only thing I can imagine."
He said police could not say yet if the deadly attack had anything to do with a rash of other shootings and gangland hits across Metro Vancouver this year.
"We have not made any other links at this time to any other homicides, to any gang-type activity," he said. "
Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts, who has been lobbying for all levels of government to do something about gang warfare, was outraged by the apparent indifference of the shooters.
"You can see with this escalation, [gangsters] don't care. And if this is a redistribution of power with the gangs in the drug trade, it is only going to escalate," she said.
