Three people are dead after a series of incidents related to a dispute between neighbours in Maple Ridge on Wednesday night.
The RCMP says it responded to reports of a “neighbourhood dispute” around 6:40 p.m. along 238 Street at 118A Avenue.
“Police officers from the Ridge Meadows RCMP attended and spoke with several individuals. No arrests were made,” Staff Sgt. Kris Clark said in a release Thursday.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO 1130 NEWSRADIO VANCOUVER LIVE!Around four hours later, at 10:50 p.m., the Maple Ridge Fire Department reported to police that a vehicle fire and break and enter were in progress at the same location as the previous call.
“Subsequent callers reported that shots had been fired at that location,” Clark said.
“Police officers from the Ridge Meadows RCMP attended to find two vehicles and the attached garage on fire, and two people deceased inside the residence. The suspect was believed to be armed with a weapon inside a neighbouring home and police set up containment.”
Investigators later added that a dog was also found dead inside the residence.
“With the assistance of the Lower Mainland Integrated Emergency Response Team, entry was eventually made into the home where another individual was reportedly located deceased,” Clark explained.
The third person died of what the IIO says appears to be a self-inflicted wound.
Speaking to CityNews, one neighbour says he heard a “big loud bang” around 11 p.m. Within about five or 10 minutes, he began to hear sirens converging on the area.
“One fire engine arrived first, one or two police cars. And then it just kept going on and on … more emergency vehicles, one after another,” he explained. “After 20 minutes, there had to have been 15 or 20 emergency vehicles.”
“I came out of my house, and barely a block away, I could see flames. Everybody was congregating outside, then before we know it, police were saying everybody needs to stay inside,” he said.
The neighbour describes the area as a “subdued, quiet neighbourhood.”
“I’ve been here over a decade, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said.
Missy Sheridan, who lives in the neighbourhood, says her husband was outside barbecueing when they heard what sounded like a gunshot.
“And then there were five more,” she said. “By the time we went outside, there were vehicles on fire.”
She says it felt like something out of a movie.
“It was totally intense,” she said. “Shocking. It was traumatizing last night.”
The Independent Investigations Office of BC (IIO), the province’s police oversight organization, has been called in to investigate officers’ actions in relation to the killings. The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) has taken conduct of the concurrent investigation into the deaths of two people found inside the first residence.
Pictures posted to social media late Wednesday showed a massive police presence at the scene.
On Thursday, Ridge Meadows RCMP officers remain on the scene with the area of the incident taped off. The two burned vehicles can be seen, with one SUV in a driveway also having its windshield completely caved in.
Meanwhile, the IIO is asking witnesses to the incident to come forward and speak with investigators.
“The IIO is asking that any witnesses that have not already provided a statement, or who have video footage of the incident, to please contact the IIO at our Witness Line toll-free at 1-855-446-8477 or via the contact form on the iiobc.ca website.”
In an update Thursday afternoon, IHIT says the two victims found dead in the first residence have been identified as a man and woman in their 60s.
Investigators say it was a “targeted and isolated incident, as a result of a dispute between neighbours who were known to each other,” and “there are no outstanding suspects.”
— With files from Monika Gul.
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