Minister of Justice Suzanne Anton, in response to the Surrey RCMP news conference today, issued the following statement:

“I want to commend the RCMP and their policing partners for their hard work and dedication in investigating this gang activity. In this particular incident, police investigated shots fired on a school playground. This is alarming and completely unacceptable – gang activity in our province must stop.

“I urge those who have information about these individuals or knowledge of criminal activity to come forward to police. The police are working flat out to find these people – if you have information, step up now and do the right thing. The police and your community need you.

“I would particularly like to compliment Surrey RCMP, assisted throughout by members of the anti-gang unit in CFSEU-BC, who have devoted extraordinary attention and resources to resolving the gang issues in Surrey. These efforts are starting to produce results, which we see today.

“Community safety is a priority of the provincial government as seen today in the announcement by Premier Christy Clark of an additional $5 million into targeting prolific, violent and gang-affiliated offenders and also going after the roots of crime through education.”

Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner issued the following statement:

“The progress made in this case today can be largely credited to the wall of silence breaking down. I want to commend and thank the members of the community who have stepped up and done the right thing in helping investigators in such a critical manner.

“I continue to urge anyone with relevant information to come forward and speak with the police.”

Anyone with further information on the whereabouts of these individuals is asked to contact the Surrey RCMP’s dedicated tip line at 604 915-6566 or local police in your area. If you wish to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 1 800-222-TIPS or visit: www.solvecrime.ca