Imagine you’re sitting in a drive-thru lineup waiting for your burgers when the ending of Rambo 3 is suddenly re-created next to your vehicle.
That’s what happened Thursday night to one person who was waiting for their order at the Market Crossing McDonald’s.
It was all captured on a dash-cam video embedded below. Just listen to it. You’ll hear dozens of shots blasting away. "Pop, pop, pop," like Rambo is emptying a machine gun into some Russian soldiers.
It’s terrifying. It’s jarring. It’s sad. It’s enraging.
And it’s all happening in the city I love. In a mall parking lot.
Burnaby has been dragged into the Metro Vancouver gang war with a series of shootings in 2021 – including two in February and two more in less than a week.
Two men are dead – one last weekend after a horrific shooting at 12th Street and Sixth Street that also injured an innocent bystander, and now a member of the local gang Brothers Keepers at the Market Crossing shopping centre.
Just look at the photo above. See how many bullet holes are in that BMW’s windshield. One man killed and two more sent to hospital with injuries.
People were out shopping or sitting on a restaurant’s patio when this happened. As we saw from last weekend’s shooting, innocent bystanders also get hurt. I say this because too many people dismiss these gang conflicts by saying that it only impacts those in the criminal world.
As I wrote recently in a different column, we need real solutions to the things behind this criminal activity, such as drug prohibition.
B.C. Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said he met with Metro Vancouver police chiefs in the wake of all these shootings and tried to reassure the public that police are on the right track.
It wasn’t very reassuring, especially when hours later another person was gunned down in a mall parking lot.
I want to feel safe when I walk the streets of Burnaby. I want real solutions from the people elected to keep our communities safe. “More cops” is not the solution. That’s reactive, not proactive.
Hear dozens of gunshots during Cactus Club shooting in Burnaby. pic.twitter.com/c2UxnAIJLL
— Shawn Miller (@DailyShawn) May 14, 2021
What I fear is that this spate of shootings will calm down and politicians will breathe easier about having to make tough choices about our pointless war on drugs.
Until the next gang war erupts.
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter at shinebox44.
