Vancouver is on pace to match its highest homicide rate in the last half decade.
The city’s eighth homicide victim was identified Wednesday morning as 33-year-old Vancouver resident Janice Nicole Bryant.
Bryant was shot near Seventh Avenue and St. Catherines Street around 5 p.m. Tuesday evening. She died in hospital shortly thereafter.
Vancouver Police Department Const. Jason Doucette said the incident was targeted and that the general public is not at risk.
“This was a careless act,” Doucette said. “The person who pulled the trigger appears to know that they are in a populated area — there appears to be a park behind it — and that’s concerning.”
Doucette released little to no information on Bryant’s background, as that information was still being compiled as of Wednesday morning. Bryant appeared to be alongside one other person at the time of her death, but no information was released on who that person is, or the relationship between the two. Doucette did not say whether the shooter was on foot or in a vehicle.
The city’s last homicide took place in the early morning hours of March 14, when a 19-year-old Vancouverite was stabbed to death near the Insite supervised injection site.
Twelve homicides were recorded in Vancouver last year, compared to 16 in 2015 and nine in 2014. There were six and eight homicides in 2013 and 2012, respectively.
The numbers from the previous five-year period ranging from 2007 to 2011 were all in the double digits and reached as high as 21 homicides in 2007.
“In general, people that associate with those in the criminal lifestyle, around gang members, whether you’re a girlfriend, whether you’re a brother or a sister … you’re putting yourself at a higher risk of being victimized,” Doucette said.
@JohnKurucz
