Surrey RCMP 'surprised and disappointed' at lack of tips on recent shootings

Surrey RCMP investigators are frustrated a news conference that was held a month ago has failed to generate a single tip from the public.

On July 31, police took the extremely rare step of releasing the names and pictures of five young men who had been targeted in a string of recent shootings.

"We did make an appeal for anybody that had any information about these five victims in the hopes that it would help us forward our investigation against the actual shooters," said Cpl. Scotty Schumann.

"To date, we have not received any tips. That doesn't prevent the investigation from continuing, but, certainly, it doesn't speed things up."

Schumann says he knows there are people out there with information about the shootings, and it's troubling that no one has come forward.

"Given that there's five victims, you'd expect that somebody somewhere would know something about these crimes," Schumann said.

"I'm surprised and disappointed as well."

RCMP say violent crime and shootings are down in Surrey compared to last year, but gun violence has flared up again over the last couple of months.

Schumann says he understands that sharing information with police can be difficult for many reasons, so he's urging people to call Crime Stoppers to leave an anonymous tip.

"Somebody may be scared. Somebody may be trying to protect themselves from prosecution, but I also think somebody might not realize how important the information they have is," he said.

"Sometimes little details can seem inconsequential, but, really, it can be the one thing that cracks a case wide open."