By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

UPDATE: Targetted shooting leads to Nanaimo’s first homicide of 2017

Apr 19, 2017 | 9:14 AM

NANAIMO — A “brazen” shooting in Nanaimo has left one man dead. 

Nanaimo RCMP Cst. Gary O’Brien said the incident happened in the lobby of the Howard Johnson Hotel at 3:20 a.m. this morning, April 19. He couldn’t elaborate on a motive for the killing, but confirmed it was targetted and the public isn’t at risk. 

“To have a targetted shooting, as we believe it was, we just haven’t seen that in Nanaimo. It may happen in other jurisdictions but not in Nanaimo.”

Police have one man in custody. He was taken into custody by North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP approximately an hour after the shooting. 

“That vehicle has been seized and the male has not been charged at this point,” O’Brien said. 

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In a press scrum, O’Brien couldn’t confirm many details, such as how many shots were fired or if the victim was from Nanaimo, since it’s still early in the investigation. 

“We have a person who’s deceased, we have a very intensive investigation involving our Serious Crime Unit, our forensic unit and most of our plain clothes officers. This is an extreme case of violence,” he said. 

O’Brien said this was the first homicide in Nanaimo since the mill shooting on April 30, 2014, nearly three years ago. 

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