Ten shootings. Twenty-nine days. Zero people charged.
HRM has been home to plenty of gunfire in the past month, and a frustrated police force is calling on those who have information to come forward so those responsible can be brought to justice.
“We feel our citizens in our communities are our eyes and ears. They are very tuned into what is happening in their communities and we need them to continue coming forward and speak with police to help us stop this issue,” Halifax Regional Police spokeswoman Theresa Rath said yesterday.
“We cannot do it on our own. It can’t be just left to police. We have to rely on the community to support us and work with us.”
HRM’s latest shooting came early yesterday as a 34-year-old man was shot in the leg and taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after two men wearing masks entered a home on Queen Street in south end Halifax around 1 a.m.
Police say the suspects fled on foot and couldn’t be located. Investigators were hoping to get information as to what happened from the victim, but Rath said he isn’t co-operating.
“We believe this is to be drug related — not random in nature,” said Rath, as police allege a large amount of marijuana was found inside the home, with the victim now facing drug charges.
She said cases like this where the victim isn’t co-operating has been a regular occurrence in these latest shootings.
“In many ways, it puts up a wall for us because we have to go about other ways to try and determine what happened,” Rath said. “We’re left to piece it together without the victim.”
Police have labelled all 10 shootings since March 16 as being not random. In most cases, police believe people know who did the shooting, but aren’t speaking up.
“A lot of these shootings, we don’t receive a lot of co-operation,” Halifax RCMP spokesman Joe Taplin said.
“A majority of the shootings, people know who was shooting at them or who the shooters were. And to not get that co-operation, it’s very frustrating for police.”
