VANCOUVER - A shooting and a stabbing in separate locations on British Columbia's Lower Mainland left one man dead, another wounded and five others in hospital, police said Saturday.
Both incidents took place at about 2:30 a.m. Saturday, but were about 50 kilometres apart.
In a shooting which took place in the Fraser Valley city of Langley, B.C., one man was killed and another taken to hospital, where he remains in critical condition, said the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team.
Meantime, police said five men suffering from stab wounds were admitted to hospital after an unrelated attack at a karaoke bar in Vancouver.
"We're out there diligently trying to determine what happened here," the homicide team's Sgt. Jennifer Pound said of the shootings. "Once we identify the victims, hopefully that will shed some light on to it."
Originally, the shootings were called in as a domestic dispute, but that doesn't appear to be the case now, said Pound, adding the investigation is ongoing.
Mounties called to the rural residence at about 2:30 a.m. located several individuals outside a home, said police in a statement.
Inside the residence, RCMP found two men suffering from what appeared to be gunshot wounds, and the home was doused in bear spray, police add.
Officials said one man was pronounced dead at the scene, and another was taken to hospital where he remains in critical condition.
They said the two victims didn't live at the residence.
Pound said four males and one female between the ages of 17 and 22 were arrested, but the female has now been released.
She said police do not yet know the motive for the shootings and are still trying to notify the victims' family members.
"A lot of the information that we get from hopefully identifying the two victims will help us determine what the connection is to this and really why it all happened," she said.
The area is rural and remote and the residences are farm-type houses on acerages, said Pound.
She said investigators will spend the day talking to neighbours and processing the scene, but as of noon the deceased man's body had not yet been removed.
Back in Vancouver, police called to the scene of the stabbing at the karaoke bar said three men were taken to hospital with stab wounds, and a short time later two others arrived at hospital also suffering from similar injuries.
The victims are Asian males between the ages of 25 and 29 and are all know to each other, police said.
Two of the men remain in hospital in serious but stable condition, said police who added they don't believe the victims know the suspect.
Police have identified the suspect as an Asian male, who is between 19 and 21 years old, stands 5-4, is about 130 pounds and has an athletic build, short spikey hair and a full-sleeve tattoo on his right arm.
