Members of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team have joined the investigation into the disappearance of a 40-year-old Langley woman. Sergeant David Lee of I-HIT says investigators are looking at the home of Naomi Onotera as a starting place. But Lee cautions that is not an indication of criminality involving anyone living at the home of the married kindergarten teacher and mother of an 18-month-old daughter. Onotera was last seen near her home on August 28th and the R-C-M-P have confirmed she left without her car.
A man was killed in a “targeted” shooting at the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel parkade Wednesday afternoon, according to the Vancouver Police Department. Police tape went up outside of the high-end hotel near the Vancouver Convention Centre around 3:30 p.m.. Const, Tania Visintin, speaking to the media Wednesday evening described what first responders found when they were called to the scene. “Witnesses saw a man in a vehicle, who was unresponsive so police arrived immediately so did paramedics. Paramedics declared this man deceased on scene,” No one has been arrested, and police are not releasing the victim’s identity or naming any suspects. Police say the shooting was targeted, but have not said whether it is connected to the Lower Mainland gang conflict. Anyone with information is urged to call VPD
A Burnaby family is speaking out about how potential COVID-19 exposure notifications are going out in schools, arguing people are not being given enough information. Sylvia Fuller’s partner, Michael Coyle, is a transplant recipient. The vaccines against COVID-19 simply don’t work on him. “My real concern here is the change in the protocols where parents are no longer being necessarily notified if there is a COVID case in their school, or even in their classroom. And this is just really critical information for families like mine to be able to keep ourselves safe,” she explained. Last month, B.C.’s top doctor announced that schools would no longer send out notifications for single cases. Dr. Bonnie Henry said schools would “be doing an assessment, as we do for every communicable disease, and every individual who’s at risk will be notified.” She added clusters and outbreaks would continue to be reported. Meanwhile, Fuller wants the province to allow schools to share more information and is calling for rapid testing, as is done in some other countries.
In a possible indicator of keen local interest in the current federal election, estimated advance polling numbers are up when compared to the 2019 election in the South Surrey-White Rock riding. National numbers released by Elections Canada on Wednesday show current advance polls in this riding estimated at 22,434 votes compared to a total of 19,019 recorded in the previous election. In B.C., advance voting turnout was up 13 per cent over 2019 numbers. Other Surrey numbers show advance voting at par with 2019 in Surrey Centre (an estimated 12,859 currently to 12,754 in the last election) and considerably down in Surrey-Newton (an estimated 12,146 in comparison to 15,417 in 2019). National election day is set for Monday Sept. 20.
B-C is reporting four more deaths and 706 new cases of COVID-19. The latest deaths — three in the Fraser Health region and one in Northern Health — bring the death toll in the province to one-thousand-877. There are five-thousand-844 active infections, including 291 people in hospital, of whom 134 are in intensive care. Close to 80 per cent of eligible B-C residents are now fully vaccinated, while 86.8 per cent have received one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. (The Canadian Press)
The B-C Lions have commissioned a special orange T-shirt with an Indigenous rendition of the team’s logo to help raise awareness of the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30th. Ten-thousand of the T-shirts will be handed out at the Lions’ home game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders on September 24th. Team vice-president George Chayka says members of both teams will wear orange tape to raise awareness of the day established to honour survivors of Canada’s residential school system. The Lions are also providing 350 tickets to survivors and their families to attend the game and making a 20-thousand dollar donation to the Orange Shirt Society.
Vancouver Police want to hear from a woman who witnesses say was pushing a baby stroller when she narrowly escaped injury as an out-of-control driver careened through the streets of the Yaletown neighbourhood. Sergeant Steve Addison says a number of people saw the woman jump out of the way to avoid being hit on September 8th. Police a 27-year-old man was arrested at the scene and evidence is still being collected. They believe the woman with the stroller has valuable information that could help with the investigation.
The B-C government says customers at the province’s liquor and cannabis stores donated more than 1.45-million dollars to the Canadian Red Cross to help residents affected by wildfires. That amount will be matched by both the province and the federal government for a total exceeding four million dollars. The Red Cross’s regional vice-president Patrick Quealey says every dollar will go toward providing much-needed support now and in the months ahead. The B-C Liquor Distribution Branch is an official disaster-relief supporter for the Red Cross, and its next fundraising campaign in both liquor and cannabis stores between November and January, will be in support of food banks.