Surrey violence leads to another community outreach event

Roughly 100 people gathered in Surrey on Tuesday to come up with ways to fight back against the spate of drug-related violence in the city. 

People jotted down ideas, trying to figure out solutions for reaching young people who are most at-risk of becoming involved in gun and drug violence. Police say there is a gang turf war on the streets of Surrey that has spilled into Delta and resulted in 22 shootings and one homicide in six weeks.

"A lot of East Indian parents are so involved in work and unfortunately the problem with that is they're so involved in trying to make a good living for their children that they don't have the time to be involved in their children's life," says one Surrey parent Ruby Deol. 

Surrey teen Jayden Grewal says there is a lot of peer pressure to try drugs and sell them. 

"People keep on telling you to sell drugs, to try them. It's really hard ... as you're talking to the older kids, you find out they've tried that stuff and [there is] a lot of peer pressure."

The organizer of the event, Meera Gill, says more needs to be done to keep youth out of gangs. 

"We want to be at the preventive stage," she says. "When someone gets shot, that's enforcement. RCMP will take care of that. But as parents, we want to say how can we save our kids before we get to that stage."

Gill says the ideas they collect tonight will be sent to all three levels of government as well as Surrey RCMP.