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Police have released a few new details on two people found dead in a Prince George, B.C., home this week, the latest victims of a wave of gang-related violence in the northern city this year that has seen a gun battle in a downtown street and a fatal drive-by shooting at a popular restaurant.
One of the victims found in a suburban home on Tuesday was a 23-year-old man. The other was a 19-year-old woman. Both were residents of Prince George, RCMP Constable Gary Godwin, a detachment spokesman, said Thursday.
Their bodies were found after a phone call directed plainclothes officers to the home in the southwest corner of the city not far from the main campus of the University of Northern British Columbia.
Police would not discuss how the victims died. Their identities are being withheld pending the notification of next of kin.
But Constable Godwin suggested they appeared to be linked to gang activity that has become a grisly reality in the otherwise quiet city of about 77,000 people – a community with roots in the forestry sector described as the Capital of the North.
“It is the belief of the investigators at this time that the homicides were targeted. I can say further the recent murders, beatings and torturing have been gang-related. It remains to be seen whether this one is or not,” he said.
Constable Godwin said police knew the house.
In mid-September, emergency-response officers backed up Mounties in a raid at the same home, removing three illegal handguns, two of them semiautomatics. Five people were arrested: two 19-year-old women and three men ranging in age from 28 to 29.
The RCMP have confirmed that a war over cocaine turf is raging in Prince George involving three key gangs: the Crew, the Independent Soldiers, and a splinter group of the Soldiers. In addition, there are the Renegades, an offshoot of the Hells Angels who have been a fixture in the community for years. All the gangs are largely local but have links to affiliated organizations in the Lower Mainland.
The Tuesday discovery, announced Wednesday, is the latest incident of gang violence in a city that saw an all-out gunfight in downtown Prince George in early August. A 19-year-old man linked to the gunfire was wounded. Three men, aged 23 to 28, were arrested and charged with attempted murder.
In January, a 21-year-old man, described as a gang member by his own family, was gunned down on the steps of a suburban restaurant. Police have linked the restaurant incident to the August gun battle.
On Christmas Eve, 2007, a dozen people were arrested after a massive brawl in the parking lot of one of the city's major shopping malls. Police confirmed that gang members were on the scene.
There have also been incidents where people have been held in homes and tortured over drug debts.
After the August shooting, police declared that a gang war was in progress, noting in a statement that gang members and associates were routinely taking up firearms.
Police have said a number of investigations are under way to gain the upper hand on gangsters.
