The shooting that left 10 people injured on Sunday targeted an invitation-only birthday party attended by gang members, Vancouver police say.
The city's upscale Shaughnessy neighbourhood was shaken early Sunday morning by a rain of gunfire.
Police were flooded with 911 calls around 2 a.m. from residents of the Oak Street and 22nd Avenue area who heard dozens of gun blasts and saw a crowd of people fleeing in cars and on foot.
The shooting happened in front of the Best Neighbours restaurant, where police say a birthday party was underway.
"The bulk of the people that were there, we know to be connected to gangs," Deputy Chief Const. Warren Lemcke told reporters Monday morning.
He said that police had yet to arrest suspects in the shooting, but none of those injured are considered to be innocent bystanders.
"There were no innocent people in the area," Lemcke said.
He said that police will be stepping up their anti-gang activities in the coming weeks, focusing on neighbourhoods and restaurants known to be frequented by gang members.
"There's no doubt that you're going to see an increase in uniformed Vancouver police presence in the coming while," Lemcke said.
He added that the shooting is believed to be part of ongoing, escalating gang violence in Vancouver, but declined to say which gangs were involved in Sunday's event.
Chief Const. Jim Chu said a motive is not yet known for the shooting, but that's not uncommon for gang-related attacks.
"Sometimes they shoot each other when they don't even have a reason to shoot each other," he said.
Mayor Gregor Robertson lives about a block away from the scene and called 911 after hearing gunfire overnight.
"I think everybody in the neighbourhood called 911," he said Monday.
Robertson said that when he first heard the shots, he thought the sound was from someone setting off fireworks.
"You get that rotten, sinking feeling in your stomach when you realize exactly what's going on," he said.
The mayor described the experience as "scary" for his family, and said he was outraged by the shooting.
"This type of assault in the community is despicable. It has no place in any city; it has no place in Vancouver," Robertson said.
A black pickup truck pierced by bullet holes was towed out of the area by police. A few blocks away, a large assault rifle was found discarded next to a tree.
Police have said there has been little cooperation so far from the six men and three women hospitalized in the shooting. A seventh man refused treatment. All of the victims are in their 20s and 30s.
Eight victims remained in hospital Monday.
Staff hid in cooler
The owner of the Best Neighbours Restaurant told CTV News his three staff members ran and took cover from the gunfire in the back cooler.
He said the group of 30 people, who made the reservation last week, stayed for about three hours and settled their bill around 1:20 a.m. They moved out onto Oak Street after refusing a request to order cabs.
Restaurant staff was cleaning up when the shooting began. One customer climbed through the broken glass to take cover inside, he said.
The owner said some of the people had been to his business before but there had never been any problems.
Victims
Police have yet to name any of the shooting victims. A bag of bloody clothes stuffed into brown paper bags at Vancouver General Hospital after the shooting spree was labeled Paul Alexander Araki.
Documents show a man with the same name has faced numerous charges, including possession of a firearm.
