Saturday night shootups becoming the norm in Vancouver: police

Vancouver's latest restaurant shooting — this timein Kitsilano — is causing concern that gun-related crime is becoming the norm on weekend nights, as the city gears up to host the 2010 Winter Olympics.

On Saturday night, an Indo-Canadian man was the target of masked gunmen who opened fire through the window of the posh Quattro restaurant, hitting him in the back and sending him to hospital with serous abdominal injuries.

A 21-year-old woman was also shot four times in the leg during the incident, which comes just one month after a restaurant shooting at the Fortune Happiness eatery in East Vancouver thatleft two dead and six wounded.

Police say attacks like these are hardly unusual.

Saturday's Quattro shooting was one of five that police reported having to respond to in Vancouver that evening.

"We deal with almost a gun a day,'' said Vancouver Police Dept. Const. Tim Fanning.

"At the weekends, five incidents involving guns is unfortunately something that we see all too often in Vancouver.''

Police, who have yet to make any arrests following last month's Fortune Happiness shooting, are not getting much help in tracking down the gunmen who showed up outside the Quattro Restaurant on Saturday.

Police say the two gunmen, who were wearing dark clothing and hoods, appear to have targeted 29-year-old Gurmit Singh Dhak, who is known to have gang affiliations and was jailed after shooting another male in the face in 2003.

According to court documents, Dhak drove the getaway car after Minh Vu was shot outside Madison's nightclub in 1999.

Dhak was out on parole Saturday and accompanied by his brother and several associates when he was shotat Quattroand remains in hospital. None are helping police with their inquiries.

The female victim who was injured at Quattro was also still in hospital the day after the shooting.

Forty-seven witnesses were taken to the police station for questioning.

'It's too early to draw links to any other crimes.' — Const. Tim Fanning, Vancouver Police Department

Fanning added, however, that investigators at this time do not believe the latest shooting is connected with last month's fatal gunplay at Fortune Happiness.

"It's too early to draw links to any other crimes," Fanning said.

The department had said in August it was worried about a retaliatory shooting after the East Vancouver rampage.

The East Vancouver restaurant is in an area known for late-night drug dealing and prostitution, while Saturday's shooting occurred in a relatively prosperous area on the city's west side.

Police arrived to a chaotic scene of shot customers, panicked witnesses, upturned tables and spent shell casings. The gunmen were long gone.