Coquitlam’s mayor calls park shooting ‘troubling,’ insists community is safe

COQUITLAM (NEWS 1130) – Coquitlam’s mayor is calling the deadly shooting of a man at a popular park during daylight hours on Monday “enormously troubling.”

Mounties were called to the basketball court at Town Centre Park on Pinetree Way at around 6:30 p.m. The victim, a 20-year-old man, died at the scene.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team has since identified the victim as Bailey McKinney.

“We believe that this was a case of an individual being targeted for murder,” Sgt. Frank Jang said.

No one has been arrested following last night's deadly shooting at a busy basketball court at Town Centre Park in Coquitlam.https://t.co/VK5BuEW6Ha #CoquitlamBC pic.twitter.com/JKSHKAvA94

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It’s the latest in a string of shootings the city has seen in recent weeks, but Mayor Richard Stewart insists his community is safe.

“We have a low crime rate and we don’t see this kind of violence. It is enormously unusual. Therefore, it’s enormously troubling,” he said.

“The vast majority of people will go to the park and thoroughly enjoy their day, and there are so many beautiful parks in our community. We don’t want people to feel hesitant about visiting their local park. I certainly don’t. I will be through that park several times today,” he said.

Stewart says incidents like these affect everyone differently.

“We know that some people will be reticent to go to the park. I hope they aren’t, because I know that we have wonderful park spaces and we want people to get out and enjoy the outdoors,” he said.

RCMP emphasize that this shooting is not believed to have been a random act.

“There’s a lot of concerns, understandably, by the community — especially those who use the park — whether it had anything to do with the park itself. We don’t believe that’s the case,” Jang said.

He says it’s not clear why McKinney was targeted, but the shooting may have been related to gangs or drugs. He adds McKinney had conflicts with other people and past interactions with police.

Related article: One dead after shooting at Coquitlam basketball court

Jang says there were dozens of people at the park.

“We’ve heard anywhere between 40 to 50. [Those are] 40 to 50 potentially very valuable witnesses to our case,” Jang said, acknowledging that most people scattered when they heard the shots.

“We understand that. But now, a day later, we’re hoping that the shock has somewhat abated for them and now they are in a position where they can hopefully pick up the phone, call us, or just come down to the Coquitlam detachment — that’s where we’ll be for the next few days — and speak with our investigators and tell us everything they saw and heard,” he added.

With files from Lisa Steacy