Delta Police have unveiled a new portal for the public to submit video and photos relating to Saturday’s fatal shooting at Scottsdale Centre.
The portal, available at dpd.ca.evidence.com/axon/citizen/public/219614 or via a link at deltapolice.ca, allows the public to upload photos and video directly without having to surrender their devices to investigators .
“Many people are hesitant to call the police because when you have your phone you don’t want to give up your phone to the police to be able to get those digital images off,” Delta Police Chief Neil Dubord said during a press briefing Tuesday morning (May 4).
The new portal, Dubord said, means the public “don’t have to have conversations with a police officer, they don’t have to give us their phone, but it makes it very, very easy for us to obtain all that digital imagery right quickly for our investigators to be able to use.”
Video taken immediately after the shooting circulated widely on social media Saturday. A video posted to Twitter at 5:52 p.m. that day shows a person dressed in black and holding what appears to be handgun running away from a crashed car then jumping into the rear passenger side of an SUV.
A second video purportedly of the “aftermath” shows what appears to be a silver-coloured car crashed into a black one near the shopping cart corral.
Dubord on Tuesday encouraged anyone who finds themselves in the midst of a crime in progress to look after their own safety first and “not try to get the Facebook shot or the Twitter shot.”
“The footage that we saw on social media here was live-time — I mean that’s movie stuff, right? That’s the stuff you see in movies, not in real life. So we encourage people not to do that. Look after your own public safety; we’ll find the evidence we need,” Dubord said.
“There is so much digital evidence now between all the different cameras — between stores and mobile cams and streetlight cams — that we have lots of digital footage, so we don’t necessarily need that private footage that comes from citizens if they put themselves at risk.”
Few new details were released Tuesday as police continue to investigating the killing of Surrey resident Bikramdeep Randhawa in the parking lot of Scottsdale Centre just before 5 p.m. on Saturday, May 1.
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| Bikramdeep Randhawa worked at Fraser Regional Correctional Centre. (Facebook/Special to Black Press Media) |
Randhawa, 29, a corrections officer who worked at Fraser Regional Correctional Centre in Maple Ridge, was gunned down in broad daylight, in what appears to have been a targeted shooting. Randhawa was not known to police.
No arrests have been made and police are not releasing any information about possible suspects.
Insp. Guy Leeson, head of Investigative Services for the Delta Police Department, said based on the behaviour of the suspects the incident is considered to be targeted, but the motive for the shooting is not known.
READ MORE: Man killed in North Delta shooting identified as BC Corrections officer (May 2, 2021)
“We’re looking at all possible aspects as to why this crime was committed,” Leeson said in a press release Sunday. “We will examine every potential motive thoroughly. Whether it was a case of mistaken identity, a matter related to his personal life or if there is a possibility the shooting was related to the victim’s occupation.”
A burning vehicle in Burnaby Saturday afternoon was confirmed by police on Sunday to be related to the shooting.
During Tuesday’s press briefing, Dubord said investigators are still looking at all possible motives for the shooting but have not ruled out it being gang-related.
“It has all the markings of [being] gang-related, meaning the burned-out car and how it was carried out, but certainly we can’t confirm that at this point in time.”
Police are asking anyone who knew Randhawa, or who could have information related to why he may have been targeted, to contact them at 604-946-4411 or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
A candlelight vigil for Randhawa is planned for Friday, May 7 from 6-8 p.m. in the Walmart parking lot at Scottsdale Centre (7031 120th Street). Attendees are asked to please wear a mask and practice physical distancing.
— with files from Neil Corbett
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