Three men shot dead at eatery

CALGARY—Viet Tran rushed to his restaurant after receiving a frantic phone call from his wife that someone was shooting.
By the time he got there, two men lay dead inside the restaurant and a third had collapsed from fatal gunshot wounds in the nearby parking lot in a bloody start to the New Year for Calgary police.

“I told her to get out and came here . . . she was very scared,” Tran told the Calgary Sun as he stood behind yellow police tape circling the Bolsa Vietnamese Restaurant in the city’s southeast yesterday afternoon.
The three men were dining in the restaurant located in a strip mall when they gunned down. They were declared dead at the scene.
Police said a number of gunmen fled in a silver car.
“At this time, it’s too early in the investigation to say if it’s gang- or drug-related,” said Calgary police Duty Insp. Dean LaGrange.
“But we are comfortable to say it doesn’t appear to be random.”
As nightfall arrived and the lights of several police cruisers flashed through the light snow that began to fall, the gang unit arrived to help homicide detectives at the scene.
A yellow tarp covered the body of the victim outside the restaurant.
Tran said he and his wife have owned the eatery for the past three years, and apart from a few fights in the parking lot late at night, the area isn’t known for violence.
He said that to his knowledge, the restaurant is not frequented by gang members.
“In the day it’s office workers from around here coming for lunch and when it gets later in the evening, it’s elderly people who live around here,” he noted.
About a dozen witnesses who were in or nearby the restaurant when the shooting began were being extremely co-operative, said police. Detectives also were checking other businesses in the strip mall to see if there is any video surveillance tape available.
Earlier yesterday, Calgary recorded its first homicide of the year.
An altercation broke out between several individuals inside a northeast Calgary pub and later moved outside to the parking lot.
When police arrived on the scene, three individuals were found with a variety of injuries. All three were transported to hospital, where one died from his injuries.
The other two were treated and released.
The victim, a male in his mid-20s, is believed to be new to Canada, but it was expected to take some time to contact his next-of-kin.
Starting the new year with four deaths was a bit hard for police officers at the scene of the triple murder.
“An officer’s job is tough at the best of times, but when you go home to your families you appreciate them a little bit more,” said LaGrange.
Calgary has seen an escalation in gang violence over the past year, with about 35 percent of the city’s homicides a result of gang-related activity.