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Man shot dead in east Vancouver home invasion

The Canadian Press
February 17, 2009

METRO VANCOUVER - Hundreds of onlookers gasped in horror Tuesday as ambulances, police vehicles and police lines were set up near East 53rd Avenue and Fraser, where a body lay under a canvas as police interrogated shell-shocked witnesses.

Nazreen Dean said two white men knocked on the door of her brothers'house, asking for two men.

Dean said it was simply a case of mistaken identity and the two white men got the house wrong, but shot at her brothers anyway.

“They were just watching a movie,” said Dean, part of a huge throng gathered on the grounds of the Ebenezer Baptist Church, unable to keep their eyes off the body and the crews of police interviewing a number of witnesses and suspects.

“Someone knocked on the door downstairs and they ignored it.

“Then they knocked on the upstairs, and they answered, and that's when everything went crazy.”

Dean said her 19-year-old brother, Aleem Mohammed, was shot, and her 18-year-old brother Amir gave chase.

According to Dean, Amir managed to wrestle away a gun, and shot one of the two men, whose body remained under a tarp on East 53rd Avenue just west of Fraser Street.

Dean said her brother Aleem was raced to hospital.

“He’s stable,” reported Dean. “They’re operating on him at VGH.”

After a lengthy delay, Vancouver police spokesman Const. Lindsey Houghton addressed a huge media throng with the official police account of the shooting.

“Shortly after 2 p.m., our members responded to a report of a ‘hang-up 9-1-1’ call to a residence in the 6900-block of Fraser St,” said Houghton.

“Officers found a man in his twenties deceased and another man was taken to hospital with undetermined injuries.”

Houghton couldn’t reveal many details of the shooting, but said one suspect is still at large.

“Shots were fired at some point during the incident, but there are no further details at this time,” he said.

“An extensive area search was conducted and police are still looking for at least one suspect.”

Police cordoned off a four-block stretch of Fraser Street as shell-shocked onlookers talked amongst each other and tried to piece together how such a violent event happened in their neighbourhood.

“It's very shocking," said Amarjit Kang, who walked a couple of blocks from his home to see what all the ruckus was about.

“It's a nice neighbourhood. I've lived here for 18 years.

“We live near here. We are scared, too.”

Genaro Medina, a 39-year-old manufacturing plant worker, lives just three doors down from where the body lay on 53rd Avenue.

“I just got off work, and they won’t let me go home,” said Medina, whose house was one of dozens behind police lines. “This is happening every day now — I read my Province this morning.

“This is a quiet area, it’s kind of scary.”