One man is dead following a shooting outside of a Brentwood condo late Wednesday night.
Burnaby RCMP responded to calls of shots fired in the 2000 block of Rosser Avenue just off Lougheed Highway near Brentwood Town Centre around 10:30 p.m. Upon arrival, officers found a body lying on the ground next to a black car, according to a media release from homicide police.
The man, identified as 20-year-old Aladdin Ramadan, was declared dead at the scene, and Burnaby RCMP quickly notified the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, which is now leading the investigation.
Not much is known about the shooting at this time, but investigators believe it was targeted and are trying to determine a motive.
Police are now looking for three suspects who fled the scene southbound on Rosser Avenue “in a smaller, silver or blue compact vehicle.”
The driver is described as a Persian man with a short haircut, shaved on the side with sideburns. He appeared clean-cut and was wearing dark clothing.
The other two suspects were also wearing dark clothing. Police describe them as having muscular builds and are more than six feet tall.
This is the sixth shooting in Burnaby this year.
Homicide investigators were called to the city when 46-year-old Jahanbakhsh Meshkati was shot near Robert Burnaby Park on Aug. 10. Details are still limited on this fatal shooting, but police believe it was targeted. Meshkati had just recently moved to Burnaby from Toronto.
Less than two months earlier, a 51-year-old man was shot while sitting in his car in the parking lot at Brentwood Town Centre near the McDonald’s. The victim, who investigators said was targeted, suffered minor injuries and was released from hospital shortly after. About three weeks later, Burnaby RCMP announced investigators had arrested 29-year-old Trevor Michael Scott Taylor. He was charged with several offences including aggravated assault.
On April 20, Mounties responded to reports of shots fired in the 4400 block of Carleton Avenue. While several spent bullet casings were found outside of a home in the area, a victim was never found.
At the beginning of the year, Burnaby RCMP were tasked with dealing with two relatively high-profile shootings in South Burnaby.
The first was on Jan. 7 inside the Cactus Club restaurant on Kingsway near Metrotown. The brazen, midday shooting sent one man to hospital. Investigators with the Burnaby RCMP’s serious crime unit determined the shooting was gang-related and the victim was the intended target. No bystanders were injured in the public shooting.
About one week later, on Jan. 15, Mounties were called to a Chinese restaurant on Canada Way near Sperling Avenue after someone shot several rounds into a car parked outside the restaurant. Police said the owner of the car – a black, newer model BMW – was the target and is well-known to police. No one was in the car at the time and no injuries were reported.
Including these six shootings, there have been about 1,005 violent incidents reported between January and August this year, which is slightly higher than the same time period last year, according to Burnaby RCMP.
In total, there were 1,423 violent incidents in Burnaby in 2013, which averages to about 118 incidents each month compared to about 125 per month between January and August, according to statistics provided by the Burnaby RCMP.
While the stats to date could indicate a rise in violent crime in the city, that won’t be confirmed until the end of the year.
Four years ago, Burnaby experienced the highest number of violent incidents in recent history with 1,958 reported. Since then, the rate has been on a steady decline – 1,858 in 2011, 1,593 in 2012 and 1,423 in 2013.
Anyone with information on Wednesday’s shooting or the three suspects at-large is asked to contact the homicide team’s tipline at 1-877-551-4448 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 if you wish to remain anonymous.
