For the second time in less than a month, a Surrey café owned by Indian entertainment star Kapil Sharma has become the target of gunfire.
There are at least six bullet holes in the damaged and destroyed windows of Kap’s Café — named for its owner and prominent Indian comedian and television host — on 85 Avenue and 120 Street Thursday morning.
The Surrey Police Service (SPS) says officers were called to the scene around 4:40 a.m.
Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton told media that police believe the shooting is connected to shots fired at the same business on July 10.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO 1130 NEWSRADIO VANCOUVER LIVE!“There’s been a team of officers assigned to that case since the July 10 shooting. They have been working on completing a number of priority tasks. That includes going through witness statements, a fair bit of CCTV footage, but there is no investigative update in terms of suspects identified or arrest been made,” said Houghton.
He says responding officers found what appears to be a Molotov cocktail outside the café Thursday.
Images from the scene show what appears to be a glass bottle, full of liquid, with a rag hanging from its opening.
“The forensic identification officers will need to examine that — do some testing on it to actually determine if it actually was a Molotov cocktail.”
Bob Singh lives in the area and called the 1130 NewsRadio shortly after the shots rang out.
“I saw it from my patio,” he said.
“I heard shots fired, like five or six shots and then the cops came.”
The violence woke up Michelle Gaucher, who also called.
“We were woken up to eight gunshots — it was not fireworks. And then I got up with the dogs and I could hear sirens in the area. It was the same distance away from where that Kap’s Café was shot up a couple of weeks ago. When I drove by, it’s closed off for about a block and there are emergency vehicles there.”
No one was arrested following a shooting at the business in July, only days after it first opened. The bullets struck while some staff members were inside, but no one was hurt.
Police confirmed that staff were inside once again during Thursday’s shooting, but were not injured.
Houghton says the motives for both shootings are being investigated.
After the July shooting, a video surfaced online, apparently showing occupants of a vehicle firing a gun at Kap’s Café.
Houghton urged people to take caution, and not believe everything they see shared on social media.
“We are aware that there is, we believe, a video related to this morning’s shots fired incident circulating online. I’m sure folks will see that pop up on their feeds or it’ll be shared widely. Our investigators are aware of that video.”
The SPS says its Frontline Investigative Support team has taken over the investigation.
“Anyone with information about this incident or who may have been in the area at the time and has dashcam footage is asked to contact the SPS non-emergency line at 604-599-0502 and quote file number 25-66351 (SP) or contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or www.solvecrime.ca.”
The shootings come at a time of heightened focus on the South Asian community in Surrey, following an increase in extortion threats facing some businesses and people.
Houghton said, “There is no definitive link to extortions as time, however, investigators are not ruling it out.”
—With files from Mike Lloyd, Monika Gul