White Rock Mountie fires shot at cab during drug bust

CTV BC: More questions than answers in shooting Exactly what led a police officer to open fire on a taxi in White Rock yesterday remains a mystery.

A White Rock Mountie opened fire on a suspect vehicle in a drug bust that ended with three arrests Wednesday afternoon, RCMP say.

Plainclothes officers were investigating a suspected “crack shack” near Russell Avenue and Finlay Street around noon, according to RCMP.

A Mountie fired a shot at a suspect vehicle with three occupants as it left the area, police said. Nobody was injured in the shooting and the three suspects were arrested shortly after.

Charges have not been laid and an investigation is ongoing, Sgt. Peter Thiessen said in a release.

Ken Jones, a former MLA for Surrey-Cloverdale, said he was in the area near the time the shot was fired and arrived to see dozens of officers on scene, in front of nearby Peace Arch Hospital.

“When I got there, there were five unmarked cars with plainclothes people around on site,” he said. “There was another five police cars including cars and vans from Surrey and White Rock. It was a big coverage.”

Jones said a taxi with the name Pacific Cabs on it had its passenger-side window shattered and the passenger-side mirror was broken.

Two men were in handcuffs on the curb near the taxi, and an elderly lady in the back seat was escorted out of the cab and taken to the back seat of a police car, he said.

Jones said a neighbour who lives near the intersection of Russell and Finlay told him she heard what she thought was a shot before emerging from her house and seeing police converge on the taxi.

Coquitlam RCMP's Serious Crime Unit is conducting and independent investigation into the events leading up to the shooting, Thiessen said.