Calgary is in the midst of a bloody gang war, the city's top cop said he fears an innocent will wind up caught in the crossfire.
"I would absolutely expect more shootings," Rick Hanson said yesterday, a day after a man survived a brazen execution-style shooting on a busy downtown street to become the latest chapter in a violent struggle between two rival gangs. "That's always our concern, that an innocent person is going to get shot -- it's happened in other jurisdictions, it can happen here." Hanson confirmed the man in his 20s, shot in the Beltline by several masked gunman in the middle of the afternoon Monday, was an associate of slain gangster Roger Chin. This incident is the latest sortie in a war between two groups -- Fresh Off the Boat and Fresh Off the Boat Killers -- that, since 2001, has left a dozen dead and many others wounded. The man, listed in serious but stable condition last night, had been under surveillance by the gang unit and was out on bail for a June 24, 2007, assault in Banff. Acting Staff Sgt. Martin Schiavetta of the gang unit said the two groups have been engaged in a bloody conflict, which has little prospect of abating until one side or the other is wiped out. "There are numerous acts of violence between both these groups and, of course, every one of these shootings occurs in a public place, which obviously concerns us greatly," he said. "After every act of gang violence we expect a retaliation to occur -- the dispute that they're engaged in has to do with a lot of interpersonal disputes and hatred which is very difficult for police to stop." In the weeks following Chin's slaying, police stepped up efforts to monitor gang members, ensuring they abide by curfews and court-ordered conditions, and then showed up en masse at his funeral last weekend to try to thwart more bloodshed.
"We are not going to be anything less than vigilant. We are not going to ease up," Hanson said. "Do we worry about an innocent person being killed? Absolutely we do and there isn't a police officer you talk to who wouldn't express that concern and that's why we're doing everything we can."
Calgary has 12 active gangs and some 400 members vying to compete in the burgeoning cocaine trade, leading to confrontations in some very public locations.