Abbotsford Police are trying to piece together why two men with no apparent drug or gang connections were shot at while driving along Ponderosa Street early Thursday morning.
Const. Ian MacDonald said the 19- and 28-year-old, who were wounded in the shooting, have been co-operating with police.
“We have had very minimal (previous) contact with the two victims. We would not put them in the category of gangs or drugs by any stretch,” he said.
MacDonald said the pair were “very fortunate” to have sustained only non-life-threatening injuries in the incident.
The two were driving in the area of Ponderosa Street and Ponderosa Place (pictured in photo below) at about 1:20 a.m. either on their way to or from a gathering, when they were shot at by a passing vehicle.
MacDonald said it is not yet known how many shots were fired, although police recovered several shell casings in the area.
The victims are residents of west Abbotsford, but do not live in the area of the shooting, he said.
Investigators are interviewing witnesses and hope to obtain footage from video surveillance cameras installed at homes in the area to get a description of the culprit(s) and the suspect vehicle, which sped away from the scene.
MacDonald said it is too soon to establish a possible motive for the shooting.
APD’s major crime unit, patrol division, forensic identification unit, and collision reconstructionists are continuing to investigate.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Abbotsford Police Department at 604-859-5225, text 222973 (abbypd) or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
This is the third shooting in Abbotsford this summer.
Harpreet Chahal, 25, was killed June 23 in a drive-by shooting at the intersection of South Fraser Way and Emerson Street.
Police have identified that incident as a targeted gang-related hit.
On July 15, alleged Abbotsford gangster Brian “Shrek” Dhaliwal, an alleged former associate of Jarrod Bacon, was shot at while he was driving along Downes Road between 264 Street and Mt. Lehman Road.
He showed up at the hospital with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound, and hospital staff called police. At the time, police said the victim in the incident was not providing many details.
Dhaliwal has been the target of prior incidents, prompting police to set up video surveillance cameras in the vicinity of his Bradner Road home last October.
