An east Abbotsford home was the site of two targeted attacks this week, including a shooting early this morning (Wednesday).
Just before 3 a.m. Wednesday, residents reported hearing eight to 12 semi-automatic rounds being fired in the area of Marshall and McMillan roads.
Police traced the shooting to a house in the 2000 block of Monteray Place, a five-home cul de sac located north of Marshall and east of McMillan.
The busy residential area is located not far from a shopping area and numerous restaurants west of the neighbourhood, along Sumas Way.
Const. Ian MacDonald said no one was injured in the incident. Several bullets struck the front of the home, including the living room window, front door and garage.
Neighbours reported seeing a person, likely a man, running from the street and getting into a vehicle on Marshall Road. Investigators are still trying to gather more detailed descriptions of both the suspect and the car.
On Wednesday, investigators at the scene were looking at an assault rifle, but MacDonald could not confirm whether it was the suspect weapon.
He also said that for the safety of those in the home, he could not identify how many people were in the residence at the time of the shooting.
The house was also targeted Tuesday at about 1 a.m., when a fire was set to some shrubbery at the front of the home. The homeowners extinguished the fire with a garden hose before it could spread.
A police car was parked outside the home all day Tuesday, something that MacDonald said is not uncommon for a suspicious fire. The accelerant burn line could be seen along the driveway.
He said the occupants of the home do not have a criminal background, although they have had previous contact with police.
A property title search indicates the home was purchased in the fall of 2003.
A neighbour described the owners as “very nice, soft-spoken people. I’ve never heard of anything happening there,” he said.
The News has learned the couple are the parents of Shafa Aram, 29, who was sentenced to four years in prison in February 2003 for manslaughter.
He shot Gregory Huebner, 41, five times on Jan. 9, 2009 as Huebner sat in his car at an apartment complex at 2970 Gladwin Rd.
During Aram’s sentencing hearing, it was revealed that he was a dial-a-dope drug dealer who went by the street name “Savio.” He got in Huebner’s car with the intention of conducting a drug transaction, and shot him after Huebner pepper-sprayed him in the eyes.
Aram was initially charged with second-degree murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
This is the fourth targeted shooting in Abbotsford this year.
On Jan. 4, eight to 12 shots were fired at a home at 2504 Bradner Rd., narrowly missing the head of a 25-year-old woman who had just pulled into the driveway.
On Feb. 20, 10 shots were fired at a home on Hope Road, where a family with no criminal background lived. The man who police believe was the intended target lived in a different house on the same street.
The third shooting was on March 11 at a residence in the 32900 block of Gatefield Avenue. Four adults and two young children were home at the time.
Anyone with information about the latest shooting is asked to call the Abbotsford Police at 604-859-5225 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
