The boyfriend of a woman who was shot while sleeping in her Surrey home early Sunday morning said he had no idea she’d been hit — until she walked out of the bedroom and said, “I’ve been shot.” The 26-year-old woman was in bed when their home was hit by gunfire, striking her between the shoulder and the heart. Authorities have said the shooting is believed to be linked to a surge of extortion-related violence targeting members of the South Asian community, but that the woman was likely not the intended target. She was, however, according to police, the first to be injured in an extortion-related shooting in the city. For the couple’s safety, the boyfriend doesn’t want either of them to be identified but he told CTV News how the terrifying incident unfolded. Earlier that night he had gotten out of bed because he couldn’t sleep, and was chatting with his roommate in another room. Minutes later, someone opened fire on the house on 103A Avenue, which was riddled with bullet holes in the aftermath. “We thought they were firecrackers,” he said. Then his girlfriend somehow got out of bed, walked into the other room and said she was wounded. “She wasn’t feeling any pain, until she saw the blood,” her boyfriend told CTV News. She was taken in hospital in critical condition but is making a remarkable recovery and is now walking and talking. The house where they live has several rental suites, and when officers from the Surrey Police Service arrived, they swept though the property. Downstairs tenant Omar Younis told CTV News he was jolted awake by armed officers in his bedroom. “They said for us to put hands up. They said, ‘Hands up,’” he recalled. “And after that, they said to us, ‘Why you didn’t hear the bullets?’” Younis admitted he’s a sound sleeper and didn’t hear a thing. Police also told the tenant he was lucky, because his bedroom is located directly beneath the victims, and he wasn’t hit. Investigators have not identified any suspects, or made any arrests. “Our investigators continue to collect evidence and look into some more of the details around the circumstances of why this house was the victim of a shooting,” said Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton. As for the couple upstairs, the victim’s boyfriend said they plan to leave Surrey for another province as soon as she is well enough. The province has created a Joint Forces Operation created to tackle extortion, which comprises members from several local police agencies and the Canada Border Services Agency. The City of Surrey and the SPS have also set up a $250,000 reward fund that will pay people for information that leads to convictions in extortion-related cases. Anyone with information about Sunday’s shooting is urged to call the SPS at 604-599-0502 and quote file number 25-89656. Anonymous tips can be provided to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. RELATED STORIES:
