Man gunned down in Richmond was known to police

Police are investigating a shooting at Katsura Street and Ferndale Road around 2 p.m. on Wednesday. The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team is in charge of the crime scene.

Martin van den Hemel photo

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The man gunned down in broad daylight in a bustling residential neighbourhood in downtown Richmond, has now been identified by investigators and is known to police.

Richmond Mounties were called around 1:10 p.m. Wednesday to a report of shots fired, and found a man's slumped body on the sidewalk next to the intersection of Ferndale Road and Katsura Street, one block south east of Garden City and Westminster Highway.

The victim was wearing what appears to be a black Affliction-style T-shirt at the time of his death.

The new family-oriented densely populated neighbourhood where the brazen shooting occurred is peppered by highrises, four-storey condos and townhouses.

Sgt. Jennifer Pound, of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, said police responded to the scene and found the man, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

A witness told The Richmond Review that he was watching the Chelsea and Barcelona Champions League soccer match when he "heard two bangs about 1 to 1:30 p.m."

"It was like a car tire exploding," he said. His apartment overlooks the tennis courts that are kitty corner to the crime scene.

"I didn't relate it to anything, but (later) I saw the investigation going on."

A large yellow tarp covered the body of the male victim on the sidewalk directly adjacent to the intersection that's the focus of the investigation. The man's footwear could be seen poking out from underneath the tarp, and a police dog with a handler was sniffing what was underneath.

The entire scene remained cordoned off with yellow police tape well into Wednesday evening as investigators canvassed the neighbourhood for witnesses and combed the scene for clues. Originally, more than 15 officers were on the scene as well as a police dog, plainclothes police officers, and ambulance paramedics.

An undercover police officer was speaking to what appeared to be a female witness to the incident, speaking at a bench inside the taped-off area around 2:30 p.m.

There was a lockdown at nearby Henry Anderson Elementary as well as A.R. MacNeill Secondary while police secured the crime scene, which is directly across the street from Richmond Pentecostal Church.