Drug gangs blamed for triple shooting, double murder in Prince George
Prince George's top cop blames drug gangs "vying for power and control" for a triple shooting that killed two men and injured another on a city street early Wednesday morning.
Gangs 'vying for power and control'
"Many of the shootings and murders that we've had are directly related to drugs [as does] this right now because of the level of violence," said RCMP Superintendent Warren Brown, Prince George's detachment commander.
Brown wouldn't identify the victims but said they were known to police and had been targeted.
Officers responding to a report of shots fired discovered the three men inside a dark-coloured car near North Nechako Road and Foothills Boulevard at 2:40 AM Wednesday morning.
3 men shot
Two of the men were pronounced dead at the scene. A third man was rushed to hospital with serious gunshot wounds that weren't life threatening.
"I was quite surprised," said Brown.
"[I'm ] not naive. However, it's always shock and awe when we have a level of violence like this in our community. There's family and loved ones out there who no longer have these people in their lives."
Several hours after the shooting, a dark car was still visible in the ditch on Foothills Boulevard, while officials in white jumpsuits scoured the crime scene and officers kept traffic away.
"It's all hands on deck," said Brown.
City no longer Canada's most dangerous
Several year's ago, Maclean's magazine dubbed Prince George "the most dangerous city in Canada" based on rates of violent crime in the city.
But the violent crime rate has since dropped.
According to the latest numbers from Statistics Canada, Prince George ranks 20th in the country on the violent crime severity index. That makes Prince George safer than Williams Lake, Prince Rupert, Grande Prairie, Dawson Creek, Victoria and Red Deer, among other cities.
In 2016, Prince George had one probable and three confirmed homicides.
"It's a very small percentage of people in our community who make the headlines and tarnish the reputation of our community here," said Supt. Brown.
"There's an underbelly in our community. They live a dangerous high-risk lifestyle and they are vulnerable.
However, police say there is no reason to believe the public is directly in harm's way as a result of Wednesday's violence.
