Police stand in front of a garage in Winnipeg, Sunday Aug. 14, 2011.THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Winnipeg Free Press- Trevor Hagan
Police say a triple shooting in a quiet residential neighbourhood does not appear to be linked to an ongoing drug battle between bikers in Manitoba's capital.
A spokeswoman says it's too early to entirely rule out any gang connections — two of the victims were known to police — but she took pains to stress that the shooting was not an eruption of a war between the Hells Angels and Rock Machine.
"The information that we have right now, it is not definitely connected to any dispute between the outlaw motorcycle gangs," Const. Natalie Aitken said Monday.
"We do have some information that either the victims in this matter, or the address, would have been targeted (but) to go any further with respect to these victims, that's still very much something that we have to speak with them on."
Police believe there were eight to 10 people in and around the garage of a home in a new subdivision in the Transcona area Sunday night when a lone gunman walked up and fired several shots.
Three men, who are 26, 29 and 30, were hit and taken to hospital in critical condition. They were upgraded to stable on Monday.
Witnesses were co-operating with investigators, Ms. Aitken said, but no arrests had been made.
Police believe two rival gangs are battling over control of the city's drug trade and are trying to intimidate each other by attacking homes or businesses connected to each other's members or affiliates. Police have not named the gangs, but they are believed to be units associated with the Hells Angels and Rock Machine.
The attacks have included the fire-bombing of a tattoo parlour in the Osborne Village district.
In most cases, there have been no injuries, but an exchange of gunfire July 4 left a 14-year-old boy wounded.
Another shooting on Sunday resulted in the death of a man in Kelowna, B.C., when a masked gunman sprayed a Porsche SUV with machine-gun fire in front of an upscale hotel.
Police didn't confirm who was shot, but media reports suggested the victim was Jonathan Bacon, the eldest of three brothers at the centre of a bloody and long-standing gang war.