Mounties say a shooting late Friday afternoon in the Brocklehurst neighborhood was “targeted,” but aren’t saying whether it could be connected to the months-long turf war between rival drug leaders in Kamloops.

Kamloops RCMP say they were called out to reports of someone being shot in the 1700 block of Parkcrest Avenue, west of Holt Street, around 5pm on Friday.

“Police arrived on scene and located a victim nearby, who was transported to hospital with serious, non-life-threatening injuries,” said Kamloops RCMP in a release.

While the Mounties say the motive for the shooting is “part of the ongoing investigation,” the RCMP have confirmed the victim is ‘known to police,’ and that the man was the intended target of the shooter — or shooters.

“The man had been in an outbuilding at the residence when he was shot by an unknown number of suspects, who then fled through the backyard and toward the train tracks,’ said the RCMP.  “Police officers, including the Police Dog Service Unit and the Southeast District Emergency Response Team, searched the area, but no one was located.”

Friday afternoon’s incident has prompted the head of the Kamloops RCMP Detachment to try to offer some reassurance, suggesting police are doing what they can to try to limit gun violence in Kamloops

“Incidents of serious violence in our communities, particularly those involving firearms, are very concerning to the public and to police,” said Superintendent Jeff Pelley, Officer in Charge of the Kamloops RCMP Detachment.  “We remain steadfast in our efforts to continue to advance these investigations, while at the same time suppressing and reducing such events through strategized enforcement efforts.”

Locals in the area around the shooting are being asked to provide any information they can, including dashcam or security footage, to help with the investigation.

“An officer presence remains on Parkcrest Avenue [Saturday] as part of the ongoing investigation, with the support of the General Investigations Support Team, Forensic Identification Service Unit, and frontline officers,” said the RCMP.

Suspected gang violence on rise since March

Friday’s scene on Parkcrest is the latest in a string of public shootings in Kamloops this year.

Many of them, as well as a number of suspected arsons, have been tied by the RCMP to an ongoing turf war between a pair of rival drug dealers.

The first salvos in the increased violence started out as a string of fires, which the Mounties say can be linked to a suspected arson on March 13th.

Five subsequent fires through March and early April are also linked to the conflict, which then escalated to the use of guns in May.

While no one has been killed through the gun play, a number of people — all believed to be linked to the conflict — have been hurt.

The use of guns in the conflict was enough to convince Kamloops RCMP to take the unusual step of publicly identifying the alleged leaders of the two rival gangs in early May.

A few weeks after the notification went out publicly, one of them, Cameron Cole, narrowly escaped being killed in an ambush outside a North Shore restaurant in early July, with the vehicle he was in plunging into the Thompson River in a desperate bid to avoid being killed by the gunmen.

While he was injured, Cole remained out in the community until he was arrested by the RCMP around a month later on weapons and possession charges.

Detained for just over a week, the courts did grant Cole bail on August 23rd, prompting a public warning from the Mounties on the day of his release, saying he will remain under close watch by police until he’s back in court to face the charges.

While Cole has made headlines since his name went public, the other alleged gang leader in the dispute — 25 year old Justin Hunt — has flown under the radar.

Friday’s shooting on Parkcrest comes less than a month after a home in the 100 block of Oak Street was riddled with bullets in a drive-by shooting October 19th.

No one was hurt in that incident.

RCMP have not said whether that shooting is linked to the drug war.