Calgary police have now identified the victim of a targeted shooting on Thursday afternoon in the northwest community of Arbour Lake.
Officers were called to the community at just after 5:30 p.m. for reports of gunshots in the area of Arbour Lake Drive N.W.
When they got there, they found a man in his early 40s suffering from a gunshot wound.
EMS attempted to get the victim to hospital, but he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Police have now identified the victim as Hui Xu, also known as Phillip Tu, 42, of Calgary.
Tu was convicted and jailed previously for dealing drugs back in 2005 for three years.
He was born in Vietnam and moved to the city back in 1985 and then began selling drugs in 1993 when his restaurant went bankrupt.
The autopsy is still currently underway
Residents say they were surprised when they heard the shooting. “Yeah, I was just watching TV there and heard a couple pops. I thought it was maybe some fireworks but I guess not,” said Hayden.
Mike Dillello said his wife attempted to save the victim’s life. “My wife went to get some blankets to stop the blood, but the pulse was gone almost.”
Neighbours say Tu lived in the neighbourhood for a number of years with his wife.
One resident who didn’t want to be identified said their life in the community hasn’t been entirely peaceful, and police had been called to the victim’s house before.
The Tactical Unit remained on the scene for a number of hours after the shooting, combing the area for clues.
"We're in the process now of interviewing witnesses and trying to formulate what happened," said CPS Duty Inspector Ryan Ayliffe. "One of the good things is we have the full support of our investigative bureau;s that's investigators from our Homicide Unit, general investigations, organized crime, basically anybody that was around today. They're pitching in to make sure we get all the assistance we need."
Ayliffe says that the witnesses they have are cooperating with investigators.
Police don’t have anyone in custody, but they don’t believe the shooting was a random attack.
With this being the third homicide in the city over the past week and the second fatal shooting, Ayliffe says the CPS' stance on violent crime in Calgary has not changed. "We're always concerned about violent crime in Calgary. These types of incidents we take them seriously because we want to make sure our community is safe. At this point, there is nothing to suggest that any of these incidents are linked, but that doesn't mean that we don't look at all possible angles of an investigation - and that's what our people are doing now."
This is Calgary's 18th homicide of 2015.
