The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team is investigating after a 30-year-old woman died in a Newton alley early this morning after being found with gunshot wounds in a vehicle.
On Thursday (Dec. 3), just after 5:30 a.m., Surrey RCMP responded to a report of a single-vehicle collision in the alleyway of the 13700-block of 75A Avenue, according to a release from Surrey RCMP.
Police said the woman was found with “critical” injuries, suffering from gunshot wounds.
Police are still on scene. They’ve got it taped off at one end at 75A Ave/138 St. #surreybc https://t.co/lS2bYYFt4T pic.twitter.com/Usb5SEm9i0
— Lauren Collins (@laurenpcollins1) December 3, 2020
Sergeant Frank Jang, with IHIT, said the woman was the “only occupant inside of that vehicle, the driver of that vehicle, (and) was found in her seat, with a gunshot wound.”
Jang said the vehicle is registered to a “woman in her late 20s.”
Police are currently trying to determine who the victim is, he added.
Jang said there is a vehicle that investigators “believe is associated to this incident.”
However, he couldn’t give a description of the suspect vehicle.
“That vehicle is obviously crucial for the investigation. It could very well have contained the suspect, the very shooter, responsible for this.”
IHIT is now asking for anyone to come forward if they have any dash-cam video, surveillance footage or any other video.
“If you have video, we need it.”
He said the vehicle could have gone “anywhere.”
“It could have stayed in Surrey. It could have gone into New Westminster. It could have gone to Burnaby, any of the outlying municipalities and communities,” he said. “Burned vehicles we know those have come up a lot recently.
“A burned car investigation in itself isn’t necessarily suspicious, but when it’s closely followed by a shooting or homicide, obviously it’s something that piques our interest.”
READ ALSO: Torched truck found in Abbotsford an hour after killing in Surrey, Dec. 3, 2020
Around 6:30 a.m. Thursday morning, a vehicle was found abandoned and on fire in Abbotsford. The fire occurred at about 6:30 a.m. on Lefeuvre Road near Myrtle Avenue in the Bradner area of Abbotsford.
The Abbotsford Police Department is currently investigating.
Surrey RCMP said the shooting death “does not appear to be a random act.”
Police were still on the scene around 9:45 a.m., with police tape blocking 138th Street and 75A Avenue and the alleyway between 74th and 76th avenues. Police have also blocked off part of the alleyway behind the Real Canadian Superstore.
A black sedan, with its licence plate covered, could be seen next to a tent with tarps covering the sides.
So far Surrey has had 10 homicides in 2020. In 2019, there were 20 and in 2018, there were 15. The most homicides Surrey recorded in any given year was 25 in 2013, breaking the previous record of 21 in 2005.
READ ALSO: Police ask for dash cam videos after 29-year-old man shot dead in Surrey, Nov. 29, 2020
Since IHIT took over investigating homicides from the Surrey RCMP’s serious crimes section in June 2003 it has to date cleared 138 of the total 238 homicide cases it has investigated in Surrey. These cases, Sergeant Frank Jang told the Now-Leader, “have been cleared by charge, recommended charge, or cleared otherwise.”
That is a clearance rate of nearly 58 per cent.
Anyone with information regarding this investigation can call the IHIT Information Line at 1‐877‐551‐IHIT (4448) or by email at ihitinfo@rcmp‐grc.gc.ca or to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers by phone at 1‐800‐222‐TIPS (8477).
– With files from Tom Zytaruk, Vikki Hopes
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