Teens as young as 16 involved in Surrey’s ongoing turf war

SURREY (NEWS 1130) – Last week, Surrey’s mayor made a move to try and put an end to the recent violence in that city and Delta. And we’re now learning more about what kind of people are involved in the ongoing turf war and says their ages may surprise you.

They are as young as 16-years-old and they don’t seem to get the fact that being in a gang is not cool, says Sergeant Lindsey Houghton with the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit. He adds it’s sad that lifestyle seems appealing.

“And it’s very disappointing at the same time, but it’s not something that’s new. We’ve seen it time and time again. It seems like every few years these young people forget the headlines of five or six years ago when we saw the height of the gang violence in Metro Vancouver. It seemed like we were talking about people being shot or bodies dropping every week to two weeks.”

“Unfortunately, there are still young people who think it’s cool to aspire to that life. It’s very, very disappointing and saddening to see young people in certain communities still idolizing people like Bindy Johal. This not a role model in our society, nor should he ever be one.”

In many cases, the families, friends and some in the community are protecting the suspects from police. Houghton adds that doesn’t help them solve anything and warns teens could die as a result. “They are continuing to enable this behaviour and that needs to stop. More young people are going to die. We’ve seen teenagers be killed because they think selling a little bit of dope is no big deal.”

“They think there will be no or very little consequences to either selling a little bit of dope or getting a gun and doing a drive-by shooting. They have to realize that this is a very serious thing. There are people out there who don’t have any regard for, not only their life, but the lives of the innocent people around them, “says Houghton.

His suggestion is for parents to talk to their kids about the dangers of joining a gang. “People don’t like to hear this, but what I’ve said time and time again to parents especially, is having that talk is a difficult conversation, we understand. But an even more difficult conversation is arranging for their obituary.”

Investigators say the motive in many of these shootings are silly. “Someone disses somebody else, someone thinks their girlfriend had a comment made about them from some other guy, and they’ll do a drive-by that night or they’ll grab a knife and try to stab somebody. That’s what this is about. Really at the base-level, it’s these street-level punks — many of them are selling a little bit of dope and making $100 to $200 a day, if that, and bullets are flying.”

There have been nearly 40 shootings in Surrey and Delta since March, more than half of those have been linked to the ongoing turf war.

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