Details remain scant after accidents, a shooting and police investigations in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows this month, leaving residents guessing and trying to fill in the blanks.
The current condition of a man injured in a shooting Aug. 13 in west Maple Ridge remains unknown after an encounter that took place on 203rd Street and Dewdney Trunk Road.
Ten police cars swarmed on to the scene where a man was shot twice, once in the stomach and once in the leg, in a shed in front of a house, leaving the man screaming in pain as he was rushed to hospital. It’s not known if an arrest has been made.
Some people on social media blamed the new Golden Ears Bridge while others said the provincial prison was the reason for such shootings.
The Saturday night before, on Aug. 12, a gruesome accident in front of Meadowtown Shopping Centre on Lougheed Highway in Pitt Meadows put a man into hospital in serious condition after his SUV veered across two lanes of traffic, smashed into a hydro pole and burst into flames.
Bystanders rescued a family from the wrecked vehicle moments before it burst into flames. The man was taken to hospital in serious condition but his current condition remains unknown.
People are also still wondering about why a downtown business, Louis Leather Shop, was behind police tape for two days on Aug. 15 and 16.
Ridge Meadows RCMP won’t comment on that or indicate if there were any arrests from that, but added that there was no risk to public safety.
“I’ve heard all sorts of different stories, speculation, rumours,” said Lindsay Meehan on Facebook.
Store owner Louis Bayard, though, said he just found early that morning that police were searching his store.
“I don’t know what they were looking for.”
He hasn’t heard anything since.
Speed is the suspected cause of a fatal, single-vehicle collision took place by the Pitt River Bridge early Thursday, Aug. 17 according to RCMP.
Ridge Meadows Sgt. Brenda Gresiuk said a car was heading westbound on the six-lane span near the Pitt River Bridge around 2:20 a.m. when it hit a sloped barrier in the median. The gender and age of the deceased were not released, nor was place of residence.
A Ridge Meadows RCMP spokesperson said that, under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, names of accidents victims are not released, while names of homicide victims are released on a case-by-case basis, with the permission of the coroner.
Last Sunday, police cars, along with a forensics ID van, a hazardous materials response vehicle and firefighters converged on to Advent Road in Pitt Meadows, near Hoffman Park.
A bystander said earlier that a coroner’s vehicle was also called.
“Police have been sitting in the back yard all day,” said one commenter.
But everything is considered a hazardous material nowadays, added Garth Wood, on the Protecting Pitt Meadows Facebook group, “unless it’s made out of quinoa.”
Ridge Meadows RCMP had no details on that investigation.
Earlier in the month, on Aug. 9, a body was found in the bushes near Rosewood Street and Dewdney Trunk Road.
No name has been released.
