THE Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) on Wednesday identified Surrey’s 24th murder victim of 2013 as 23-year-old Phillip Oun of Surrey. whose body was found on Tuesday (December 17) in the area of 124 Street and 102 Avenue at about 11 a.m.
Police said that further investigation, including the completion of an autopsy, has established the death to be a homicide and IHIT will maintain conduct of the investigation.
“Mr. Oun was known to police and involved in criminal activity. This homicide is believed to have been a targeted attack and IHIT investigators along with the Surrey RCMP have resources in place and are working to determine the motive for the killing,” said Sgt. Adam MacIntosh of IHIT.
Oun’s vehicle has yet to be found and investigators are looking for a blue, 2008 Chrysler Sebring with BC License 741 TMP. IHIT is also asking anyone who was in the area of 124 Street and 102 Avenue between 10 p.m. on December 16 and 11 a.m. on December 17 and may have seen any suspicious activities, persons, or vehicle to call the IHIT Tipline at 1-877-551-4448 by email at ihittipline@rcmp-grc.gc.ca. If you wish to remain anonymous you can call CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or leave a tip on their website at Solvecrime.ca.

THE formation of a new task force announced last month by Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts and Surrey RCMP Chief Superintendent Bill Fordy to focus on drug and gang activity and the contributing factors of homicide is not going to solve the main law and order problem plaguing the Lower Mainland.
Last month, Simon Fraser University’s School of Criminology Director Dr. Robert Gordon told Asian Journal: “This is a regional issue. It is not an issue that is narrowed to a particular municipality however large it may be. And until such time as there is a regional approach to it, when we look at the whole thing from the point of view of Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley, you won’t really have a clue about what exactly is going on,”
Gordon noted that Watts pointed out that there appears to be spikes in homicides in Surrey every four years. He added: “Well, yes, that’s right. And she goes on to say the spikes appear to be related to drugs and violent crime relating to drugs. Yes, that’s right. We know that. It’s not rocket science that Surrey has become for the time being once again the centre of a great deal of the illegal drug trade in Metro Vancouver, and until it’s understood as a problem for the whole of Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, it’s not going to change.”
But Fordy came up with the same old explanation of the crime situation on Wednesday, saying: “As has been indicated previously, we have significant resources working on this file, and on preventative measures to further reduce the incidence of such events. We have a collaborative and coordinated approach, which includes other RCMP members, and the Lower Mainland Integrated teams, including IHIT and CFSEU.
“I want to assure Surrey residents that they are safe – unless they involve themselves in high risk activities and lifestyles that put them in danger or at risk for harm. The victim in this latest incident is another in a long list of persons who have become victims because of their lifestyle. The unfortunate ultimate reality of a criminal lifestyle, as I have said so many times before is jail or death. If you involve yourself in this level of criminal activity, the likelihood of ending up dead in a ditch or in jail is very high – actually I would say it is inevitable.”

AT least seven of the 24 victims in Surrey in 2013 have been South Asian. One of them was apparently a victim of domestic violence in a murder-suicide case. Of the remaining six victims, five were known to police and two of them had gang connections.
* January 13: Manjot Dhillon, 27, of Surrey, associated with the Dhak gang, was fatally shot in the area of 168 Street and 76 Avenue.
* January 15: Manjinder “Manny” Hairan, 29, associated with the Dhak gang, was shot dead in the area of 127 and 112B Avenue and another person, Jujhar Singh Khun-Khun, 25, was seriously wounded, but survived.
* January 28: IHIT announced that the body found on January 28 in a grassy area on the side of the road in the 12300 block of Colebrook Road in South Surrey, a rural area north of Highway 99 on the Surrey / Delta border, was that of 26-year-old Jaskaran Singh Sandhu. IHIT said he was known to police and the victim of a targeted attack.
* February 20: The body of Vimal Chand, 29, was found inside a car near Surrey’s Hyland Elementary School at 66 Avenue and 140 Street at about 6:30 p.m. He was reported missing on February 17. He had a criminal record including a conviction for assault with a weapon.
* June 19: Surrey RCMP found Dilber Singh Atwal, 49, and Gurpreet Kaur Atwal, 30, dead at a home at 6773 145A Street in Newton when they went there to investigate a report of a disturbance. It was an apparent murder-suicide. Sources in the community said that the pair were an estranged couple.
* September 18: Ezar Ahmed Khan, 30, of Surrey, who had a criminal record, was found murdered in Joe Brown Park, located at 123 Street and New McLellan Road.
* October 25: Police said murder victim truck driver Satwant Singh Bains, 35, was targeted. They said that at 5 a.m., he walked out his door, entered his vehicle and moments later was shot and killed while seated in his vehicle on the driveway. Bains did not possess a criminal record and he was not known to police. Witnesses described a white four-door sedan vehicle speed off westbound on 86 Avenue towards 152 Street.

– ASIAN JOURNAL REPORT