VANCOUVER — For the second time in three months, diners on east Vancouver’s Victoria Drive were shocked by a targeted shooting.

Vancouver police shut down a block at East 35th Avenue and the alley behind after a man known to police was shot multiple times while lunching in a small pho restaurant early Thursday afternoon.

The 33-year-old victim was sent to hospital and is in critical but stable condition, according to VPD spokesman Sgt. Randy Fincham. A lone gunman entered and exited Lam Hoa Quan Restaurant through the back door before speeding off in a getaway vehicle, Fincham said. He is asking anyone who may have seen the vehicle to call the VPD at 604-717-2541.

Fincham said officers are interviewing patrons of the tiny restaurant who witnessed the incident. Police have no suspects yet and, though the victim was known to them, Fincham could not confirm that the shooting was gang-related.

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On March 8, down the block from Thursday’s shooting another 33-year-old man was hurt in a targeted shooting as he sat in a parked car. Police said after that shooting that an unknown man approached the car, fired multiple rounds into the vehicle, and then ran off.

The victim then scrambled into a nearby restaurant, where horrified diners called police. The man was taken to hospital, where he had surgery. He has since been released. The investigation is ongoing and no arrests have been made in the case.

Ramlan Mohammed, the owner of a nearby fruit and vegetable store, told Postmedia News that the March shooting was troubling for the area’s business owners.

“Of course it is a concern,” Mohammed told Postmedia News. “Victoria is becoming a bad street.”

On Thursday, none of the restaurant's neighbours said they heard any shots fired.

"The only thing I noticed was all the law enforcement speeding towards it with sirens," said Frank, manager of the Calabria Meat Market across the street from the restaurant who would only give his first name.

"One of the customers came in and said they saw the paramedics running around to the back side of (the restaurant).”

Frank said he doesn't think the neighbourhood is dangerous and chalked the violence up to a struggle between rival drug gangs.

Vancouver-Kingsway NDP MP Don Davies called the gun violence "upsetting and alarming."

"Our policies need to reflect zero tolerance for this kind of crime," Davies said in an email.

With a file from Postmedia News

Mhager@postmedia.com

Follow me: @MikePHager

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