Pulse FM News Update for Monday, May 10

One man has been killed, and responding officers were fired upon in a brazen, daylight shooting at Vancouver International Airport that police say is related to the ongoing gang conflict in the Lower Mainland. The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team has been called in, and provided an update Sunday evening. Sgt. Frank Jang says the 28-year-old shooting victim was known to police. No arrests have been made, but he says investigators are looking for at least two suspects. Police are asking anyone with dashcam footage to contact the Richmond RCMP or IHIT. The Richmond RCMP said when officers were called to the domestic departure terminal, they “intercepted the getaway vehicle” and were shot at by the suspects. No officers were hurt. “This attack was targeted and carried out in broad daylight, with absolutely no regard for public safety, or anyone’s safety,” said Richmond RCMP Superintendent. Police took the extraordinary step of closing all routes into and out of Richmond after being called to the domestic departures terminal. The airport has been reopened, and a statement from YVR says the situation has been “contained”

Fraser Health officials have declared a COVID-19 outbreak at a poultry processing plant in Surrey. They say 29 staff at Sunrise Poultry Processors have tested positive for the virus and the plant was ordered closed for 10 days beginning Friday. But there have been no reported cases of food or its packaging being associated with the transmission of COVID-19, and there is no recall of products from the plant. Meanwhile, the health agency has declared two outbreaks over at Surrey Memorial Hospital and Dufferin Care Centre in Coquitlam, which is a long-term facility.

Two-million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine are due to arrive in the country this week — but none from any other vaccine makers. The federal government has not said when the next shipment of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine will be delivered, leaving many who got the shot wondering about their second dose. Canada is expecting another 650-thousand AstraZeneca shots from the COVAX initiative at some point. Ottawa has also been in talks with the U-S after President Joe Biden suggested last month that Washington may release some of its unused stockpile.

Surrey R-C-M-P are investigating two suspicious fires in Newton. Police say they received a call just after 5 a-m on Sunday concerning two house fires. They say one house was under construction while the second was evacuated. Police say several houses around the two were also evacuated as precaution. No injuries were reported, but if you do have any information regarding the incident you are asked to reach out to the RCMP

B-C’s health authorities are focusing their efforts to stamp out COVID-19 in high-transmission neighborhoods. In the District of Summerland and in the Rutland area of Kelowna and all of Golden people aged 18 and over are being urged to register for shots. Vancouver Coastal is urging people 30 and older in a dozen communities to get the jab, including Squamish, Britannia Breach and the Hastings-Sunrise neighborhood. Fraser Health has 19 neighborhoods or cities on its priority list covering areas in Abbotsford, Surrey, Langley, Mission, Burnaby and Port Coquitlam

After a rocky start, Canada has been able to turn its COVID-19 vaccine situation around. The country is expecting another 2 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine this week, meaning more Canadians will have access to a first dose if they want one. The shipment is one of many. In April, Canada announced it would be getting more of Pfizer’s shots in the coming months, with 8 million more doses secured on top of what was already bought. The latest deal means Canada is to expect 4 million additional doses of Pfizer’s drug in May, another 2 million in June, and 2 million more in July. Canada also received a record shipment from Moderna last week. As of May 10, almost 40 per cent of Canadians had received a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine “If enough people get vaccinated and assuming vaccine rollout proceeds as planned, by mid Summer, at least 75 per cent of adults aged 18 years and older will have received the first dose,” Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said. She notes we need to hit at least that 75 per cent number if we want to see a summer with fewer public health measures.

Homicide investigators confirm the latest deadly shooting in Metro Vancouver was targeted and gang-related. Police say 28-year-old Karman Grewal was known to them and fatally shot yesterday afternoon on the sidewalk outside the international departure terminal at Vancouver International Airport. The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team has released few other details about Grewal’s shooting — the 10th in the last three weeks in Metro Vancouver and the fifth fatality that was targeted. Police confirm shots were fired at an R-C-M-P cruiser as an officer tried to pull over a black S-U-V carrying the fleeing suspects, but no one was hurt and investigators say a burning S-U-V was found a short time later in Surrey.

The steep and immensely popular Grouse Grind trail on Vancouver’s North Shore has reopened for another season. Metro Vancouver, which maintains the trail, says the 2.5-kilometre route up the side of Grouse Mountain is open between 7 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. daily. But the B-C Mountaineering Club trail, which is known as the B-C-M-C and parallels the Grind, is closed today, meaning anyone using the Grind must be prepared to book in advance and take the Grouse Skyride back down the mountain. Downhill hiking is banned on the always-crowded Grind and some diehard hikers make the downward trek on the B-C-M-C route rather than pay for the Skyride — but today’s closure and up to 10-weeks of Monday-to-Thursday closures in late May to upgrade the B-C-M-C will force Grind users to rethink that plan.

Top police officials in B-C say they plan to meet with Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth tomorrow to lay out their plan to crack down on the latest gang conflict. They’re trying to reassure the public after a pair of gang-related killings over the weekend, including a brazen daylight shooting at the Vancouver International Airport yesterday. A suspect has been charged with first-degree murder in the other fatal shooting of a 19-year-old man in Burnaby on Saturday where a bystander was also wounded. R-C-M-P Assistant Commissioner Dwayne McDonald says when violence happens in public spaces, it only strengthens their resolve to put an end to it.

RCMP say more than 14-hundred vehicles have been checked in COVID-19 roadblocks around the province since non-essential travel was banned in B-C last month. A spokeswoman for the Mounties says only two vehicles were asked to turn around and no fines or tickets have been issued. Enforcement began last Thursday at checkpoints on highways leading out of the Lower Mainland. Travel restrictions limit B-C residents to three main areas — Vancouver Island, the Lower Mainland and the North and Interior — but people are also being encouraged to stick close to home within those regions .

B-C is reporting one-thousand-759 new cases of COVID-19 over the past three days. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has also announced 20 additional deaths, bringing the total in the province to one-thousand-622. Henry says more than two-million residents have now received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine and the immunization program is rapidly accelerating. She says that starting tonight, all those 40 and older will be able to book an appointment for a vaccination, as well as all those 18 and up in high risk areas.