Two men charged in shooting of gang associate at Richmond, B.C., park

RICHMOND, B.C. – Charges have been laid against two British Columbia men in what police are calling a gang-related shooting at a park.

Twenty-year-old Thomas Duong of Richmond and 31-year-old Burnaby resident Sahand Askari are charged with two counts each, including attempted murder.

Duong is in custody on an unrelated matter, but Askari’s whereabouts are unknown, though he is believed to be outside of Canada.

Police say they received reports of shots fired on the evening of last Aug. 21 and arrived at a Richmond park to find a man who’d been wounded multiple times.

The victim was a well-known gang associate who suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Public Safety Minister Mike Morris commended the police work, saying in a statement that officers are working across the province to deny criminals safe havens and gangs are feeling the pressure.

“Recent police actions and arrests have destabilized the groups involved in targeted shootings in the Lower Mainland and considerably reduced their drug-trafficking operations,” he says.

Morris says the government is extremely concerned by targeted shootings and the conflicts surrounding the low-level drug trade.

“I can assure the people of British Columbia that police and community leaders throughout the Lower Mainland will continue to work relentlessly to keep these criminals off our streets,” he says.