Seven months after a woman was shot in downtown Chilliwack and nearly three weeks after she died, the RCMP’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) is investigating.
IHIT issued a press release on March 26 that the unit is now on the case of 43-year-old Stanny Bernice Carr who was gunned down in a vehicle on Woodbine Street after 3 a.m. on Aug. 8, 2018.
That announcement came one day after The Progress reported on IHIT’s neither confirming nor denying that the death was directly linked to the shooting.
For several days after she died, Carr’s stepfather Colin Collins was baffled why the case was not considered a murder or at least manslaughter given she died in hospital where she had remained paralyzed from the neck down for more than half a year.
• READ MORE: Woman shot seven months ago in Chilliwack dies in hospital
“If she wouldn’t have got shot, she wouldn’t have died now,” Collins said on March 12. “Definitely myself I think [it should be a homicide].”
Finding out that IHIT is now on the case, Collins said March 26 he’s pleased.
“It is just a great thing to happen,” he said. “The IHIT team has done quite well, they get back to you and they are doing a great job just like the local RCMP are. I’d like to emphasize that. I got great faith in them. All we can do is hope.”
The night of the shooting, neighbours reported hearing gunshots and one witness found a Jeep with windows blown out, and Carr bleeding. It’s unclear what she was doing in the area, but Carr was believed to be involved in the drug trade.
A bullet lodged in the 43-year-old’s spine and remained there. Since then she spent time in hospital in Vancouver and later at Surrey Memorial Hospital where she passed away on March 6.
• READ MORE: One injured in shooting on Woodbine Street in Chilliwack early Thursday
IHIT was repeatedly asked since early March if the case was a homicide but The Progress never received a response, until the press release issued March 26.
“Ms. Carr was known to police and her death is not believed to be random,” said Cpl. Frank Jang of IHIT.
Anyone with information, who have yet to come forward to police, is asked to call the IHIT information line at 1-877-551-IHIT (4448) or by email at ihitinfo@rcmp-grc.gc.ca. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or www.solvecrime.ca.
@PeeJayAitch
paul.henderson@theprogress.com
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