Posted on 06/29/2009 9:43:50 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The Lower Mainland in British Columbia has become a playground for up-and-coming gangsters in the drug trade. The innocent who get caught in the crossfire are often young too.
The latest mayhem started at the end of March, when 21-year-old Sean Murphy, a popular former high school hockey player, drove into a withering blast of gunfire near Bateman Park. He was probably dead before his car coasted to a stop in the weeds.
That same night, Ryan Richards, 19, abruptly left a friend's house after getting a cellphone call. His body was found the next morning behind a rural produce store. The stab wounds on his hands told the tale of a furious fight for his life. The undertaker apologized to his family for not being able to conceal them.
The bodies of two local high school seniors, Dilsher Gill, 17, and Joseph Randay, 18, were found May 1 in their car on a remote road just outside this normally quiet town of 134,000 near Vancouver. The boys had been seen driving away with an armed man the night before.
This crisp region of polished high-rises, emerald spruce, azure waterways and feel-good vibes finds itself in the midst of a gang war that has killed at least 18 young people this year.
Drug-dealers are gunning down women (one in a car with her 4-year-old son in the back seat), high school students with no gang allegiances and, especially, one another, in broad daylight in and around the city that will host the 2010 Winter Olympics.
It got so bad this spring that police erected concrete barriers outside the homes of two gangsters to slow down potential drive-by assassins.
"Let's get serious. There is a gang war, and it's brutal. What we have seen are new rules of engagement for the gangsters,"
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Great...my daughter is moving to Vancouver to go to grad school at UBC. She’s going there next weekend to look for a place to live. I’ll pass her this info.
Its safe as could be in the UBC region. Not to worry.
I would not worry.Vancouver is one of the safest and most beautiful cities in the world.
This is impossible because Canada has gun control.
So...who are these gangsters? Asian? Mexican?
Somehow I can’t perceive Canadians as gangsters, spraying one another with gunfire.
Most universities such as UBC have good security.
If university provided graduate housing is available, she should consider it (from a graduate student of many years ago).
I’m from Vancouver. UBC is THE university there but dont count out Simon Fraser Univesity where my brother and sister graduated. My Mom is a UBC grad but her MBA is Stanford.
The Vancouver PD are the keystone cops of Canada. As a longtime resident, I still marvel that their long-time nemesis the Hells Angels operate a strip club-drug factory right across the VPD central station in downtown Vancouver. Everyone knows where they can their “stash”..
You just can't make this stuff up.
Compared to American cities, Canadian cities are very safe when it comes to violent crime. Vancouver has 2 murders per 100,000 residents and a violent crime rate of 391/100,000, which is lower than all but a handful of American cities.
Diversity is their strength.
from what I hear, and I live in Washington State, its not a good scene and anyone who goes there had better know where they should avoid.....the Asian population from what I heard is huge......
“It got so bad this spring that police erected concrete barriers outside the homes of two gangsters to slow down potential drive-by assassins.”
I wouldn’t be too worried. It looks like the B.C. constables have things well under control. (!?)
On second thought this isn’t such a bad idea. Maybe the drive-bys kept missing, and the cops figured if they would slow down a bit they might actually hit a bad guy!
Alleged UN gang members appear on murder conspiracy charges
Read the linked story and the first few comments and you'll get the idea. Most of them are the children of immigrants from India, the Middle East, and southeast Asia.
If the numbers in that article are correct, the rate is more like 23 murders per 100,000 in Vancouver. That’s about the same as Chicago, and it’s bad.
Tell her to sell drugs and the police will protect her.
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