A typically-quiet Prince George neighbourhood was the scene of a second bout of gun-related violence when shots rang out shortly after midnight Thursday at a 3600-block Gould Cres. home, a block away from where a man was found murdered slightly more than a week ago.
Prince George RCMP, who were called to the scene at 12:20 a.m., said five people are in custody and a 26-year-old man was transported to hospital with a non-life-threatening injury that was not a gunshot wound.
"It is believed that this was a home invasion and that more than one person involved fled the area prior to police arrival," RCMP said in a statement.
Neighbours living in the vicinity of the home said they heard two or three gun shots and immediately called 911. Within minutes RCMP had surrounded the home and the quick response drew accolades.
"Everyone [in the neighbourhood] called," said a woman - neighbours uniformly declined to provide their names. "And they [RCMP] were here so quick."
Another woman said yelling from the house woke her up initially. She heard a man shout an expletive then, "bang, bang, bang, three shots."
A couple living across the street also heard shots and looked out their bedroom window to see four people running along Gould, one running "really fast" and three others following. It was not clear if they were chasing the one or if all four were simply trying to escape before police arrived.
Neighbours said an elderly woman, her granddaughter and a son live upstairs in the home and the lower half is rented out. Although they were generally quiet, there seemed to be a parade of people dropping by and leaving quickly.
"In and out, in and out, and all these different people and all these cars coming and going," said a woman. "And not the most well-groomed people we ever saw. You just kind of pay more attention to those kinds of things."
The incident quickly drew to mind the fatal shooting of a 30-year-old man at a 3600-block Forest Ave. home, also just of Ospika Blvd. last week. No arrests have been made in that case which police said was also drug-related.
"I thought it came from Forest because I live at the back of the house and it was hard to tell where it was coming from but we were so shocked to see it was from their house, really shocked," a neighbour said.
Just before they heard the shots, a couple said they had remarked that the shooting on Forest occurred exactly a week before.
"We just literally said that and all of a sudden turned back and heard two shots and thought 'oh no, this is too close to home.'"
Located in the Pinecone subdivision, nestled at the foot of Cranbrook Hill, Gould has been quiet neighbourhood, according to residents, and the incident comes as a shock. "I thought this was the safest area," said a neighbour. "Obviously, it's not safe anywhere."
It has also put at least one resident on edge. "We thought we heard a gunshot this morning, and I'm sure there wasn't one," she said. "Probably just paranoid."
It's also the third shooting incident in two weeks, after a gunfight broke out June 10 at a drug house in the 700 block of Freeman St. in Central Fort George. One man has been arrested in connection with that shooting.
The home on Gould remained taped off with a handful of RCMP vehicles parked out front and investigators collecting evidence from the property as of Thursday morning.
RCMP said it's been left concerned that two drug-related incidents involving guns have occurred so soon after each other and "within a relatively small area of our community" but also suggested the public at large is not in danger. "Prince George remains a safe community for those that do not involve themselves in illegal activities," RCMP said in a release. "The small percentage of persons that operate or live within the drug trade put themselves at a higher risk every day."
