Hitting close to home :(
 

Forgive me for this offtopic post but this is the closest brush with this sort of thing for me yet. I just need to get this off my chest.

Not only is this my favourite restaurant, I had just had lunch there. Any other day of the week this would have been packed with my coworkers as it is one of the best Vietnamese soup around (my personal favourite), and it's right by my office, and the owners are the sweetest people you'll ever meet. I take my kids to this restaurant. I take my cats to the vetrinarian next door.

And now three people are dead, shot while dining inside.

Words cannot express my profound sadness and confusion at this moment in time.

My heart goes out to the owners of the restaurant. They are the sweetest people you could ever meet and they came to Canada presumably trying to find a better life for their family.

http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/loc...ub=CalgaryHome

Wow, that's disturbing, sorry to hear about it.

wow, that is too close to home. I think he police always try to make us fell better by saying it was a targeted attack.

Man thats rough...This kind of thing seems to happen way too often (at least here in Vancouver) but never at a place I have been to or would go. That would hit close to home.

I agree that the police like to make it sound better by saying it was a targeted hit. I know this is not always the case because my moms best friends son was gunned down last year in Vancouver and the police called it a hit and gang related...the kid was a student at Interior design school and certainly not a gangster! He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time with his friends. His poor mom was devastated of course but to hear her son being called a gang member on top of that was ridiculous. Sorry off topic but I just agree with the above.

There's definitely a backstory of some kind here, whether it's gangs or drugs they don't really know though. This is a family run restaurant. I eat there at least once a week for lunch, sometimes twice. To have masked gunmen burst into a restaurant and start shooting doesn't really sound like a random to me. If it truly is random then there's something far scarier going on. :(

I'm sorry to hear this, too :(

The increase in violence is freaking me out, and I'm terrified of being caught in the cross fire. I live in Airdrie, but work downtown, and 2 of my kids go to school in Calgary. One day while picking my son up after school (he's bused to my Mom's in Connaught), there was a home invasion right across the street. We didn't realize it till we went out to my truck and saw all the police cars pulling up, and cops running outside with their guns drawn. We got out of there really fast, let me tell you! And I keep thinking of that poor Brazilian kid who was blinded when he was caught in the cross fire :(

I'm glad you and your kids weren't having lunch in there yesterday...

Oh yeah no, I didn't mean this one was random, I just meant I agree that the police do sometimes seem to like to say some public murders were targeted hits to calm people down. Certainly this is not a random act of violence.

Close to home indeed. When I lived in the SE that was THE place to go for vietnamese food. wow. So Calgary's already at 4 murders and this is January 2nd. Good Start

Man, that is sad :( Sorry to hear. Reading the crime reports for Calgary is the most depressing thing.. and then you start to see how much crime really hits close to home.

And yeah, 4 murders by Jan. 2... scary stuff.

It is pretty scary. I have never been to the restaurant itself, but I do frequent the strip mall as it is close to home. One of my co-workers, who frequents the restaurant, said the husband was out at the time of the shooting. I can't imagine how tramatic it must have been for the woman who runs the place.

Every day more and more savages come to this city. it has gone to absolute shat in the last 5 years. i was born and raised in glendale/killarny/wildwood, and know more than one person that has been shot. i know them, they are not my friends, but people i knew from high school who sold drugs then and moved into bigger and badder drugs since. i have absoulutlyt NO problems with these "insecure, no dic, piece of S, bas##@$ KKILLING each other, but when this crap happens in a public place like this with a plethera of inoccent bystanders it makes me shudder.

Back in my day (barely graduated 10 years ago) if you got into a issue you may have got your ass kicked but you lived to fight another day. at wortst you had to worry about a knife.

WOW i have erased 6 paragraphs after this only to erase, as i dont think many others share my feelings, and dont want to offend anyone.

I will finish with stating that i agree with and support my local MP Mr. Richards as he not only is the uncle of one of my best friends but because he had the "berries" to tell it like it is. i met a man from south america who now resides in the USA that just loves richards brutal truth. I FOR ONE AM TIRED OF THE MEDIA SUGAR COATING EVERYTHING. THIS IS WERE I LAY MY HEAD, I HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW WHATS ACTUALLY GOING ON IN MY CITY.

Maybe we should take a page out of the history books and take the CARS and BIKES away from the police leaving them to WALK A BEAT, AKA GET BACK TO THE PEOPLE. my father was a beat cop back in the day, and says that he knew everyone on his beat and what they were up to. its pretty tough to get a feeling of a neighborhood and its people when in a car with the radio on. your unable to "take in" the feeling/state/energy while "crusing' by.

ENOUGH ranting for now but its an easy subject to carry on with.

Definitely upsetting. I remember I never even used to lock my doors when I was home...but things are different these days. Calgary is still a pretty great place to live, but the murders are alarming.

This is why I moved to Bragg Creek. I started looking at houses here when a kid killed another kid at aparty with a pick axe, and after the random stabbing occurred while I was in one of the areas washing my truck in the wee hours. Another time I was at a carwash before midnight and a man did not want to leave the car wash since he felt I would be in danger... I wash my truck late at night so I can clean it out and dry it without holding up the line. It was something I always did, and never thought a thing about it. I was born and raised in Calgary and it is sad to see what happened to such a great place to live in.

Now I live where people are friendly and ask you how your day is going, and actually care. Nobody locks their doors and the only thing I worry about are cougars and bears when I go hiking.

I'm sorry this hit so close to home... it really sucks.

the creeks alright. all the men in my family worked at the powderhorn at 1 point or another. i bartended, brother cooked and father managed for a bit. i head there a few times a year in the summer when i can ride.

The Powderhorn was sold just recently. I went there for lunch once, wicked food. I stay out of there since I don't want to become "infamous".

I have 2000 Triumph Speed Triple Roulette green which I didn't get out on much this year. I had a pretty awful crash with my quad at Mclean and have been shy to be on four wheels let alone two. My quad is toast and I'm lucky I walked away. Closest I've come to dying, but cried over my quad more then anything. I loved that thing.

Life is simple here, I actually have a family doctor here! Food is more pricey but heck, no line ups and no mean people...

The title of this thread is very accurate..HITting close to home. Usually they are gang related and that includes all that that entails, very rarely is it a case of mistaken identity. For the most parts the police dont get too involved so long as they are killing each other, but when the public becomes involved and there is usually an inocent bystander that gets killed or wounded....then there is more of an outcry..had a plumber and another innocent guy killed in Surrey last year...for a while there was a lot of hoopla but havent heard anything lately..poor buggers were excecuted.
The police are outgunned, out financed, and out manned by the gangs..and thay are everywhere.....jsut look at the news stories across the country...anywhere there are drugs, prostitution and rival gangs, you will find a very strong organized crime foothold.

There seems to be more and more shootings in the last little while. I think it is about time the laws are changed to make punishment for gun crimes more severe. When guys are getting arrested for gun possesion and then getting off on bail a day or two later what can we expect. Now put a minimum 5 year term for possesion of a firearm and see what happens.

I agree the laws need to be changed - I can't imagine how frustrating it is for the police to haul them in, only to see them walk out the next day...

We moved to Calgary in '89 from Montreal. We bought in Airdrie in '92. We knew what big cities were like (hubby's from Toronto), and it saddens us to see Calgary go that route...

Back in 'my day' the worst that would happen was a knife would appear in a brawl at a bar, or a fight in the school yard. Now our kids worry about guns in the classrooms, and drive by shootings.

No wonder we sit and stare at our tanks - the world's gone mad!!

!!!!!!!!!!! BOLSA IS BACK OPEN TODAY !!!!!!!!!!!!



:) Man I'm so happy they've reopened !!! :)

And how! I was down in that end of town a few days ago and wanted to grab a bite but it wasn't open yet...Guess where I'm having Lunch Saturday!

Go now, there's a good chance you'll get interviewed! Place is totally infested with media. I only narrowed avoided getting interviewed by CTV, although me taking off my shirt and asking if they could see belly button lint might have swayed them off onto someone else for some reason.

I'm going again on Friday. :lol: Wild horses could not drag me away from this place. Oh it was a scene, I gave her a hug, we were both crying .. etc. I'm so happy they've decided to keep going with the restaurant.

That's an hour drive into the city for me LOL I'll go Saturday. I too though am glad that they've decided to keep it open. Some of the best Satay Beef Soup on the planet. MMMMMMMMMM

Hey, it's an hour to an hour and a half's drive for me to get to Red Coral, and that doesn't stop me :p .. err, actually, yes I guess it kind of does... never mind.

6 shootings in 7 days in Greater Vancouver area. 7 in 8 if you count today's gun fight.
As for close to home, there has been several killings in my block within the past couple of years.

Usually when I come into the city and am not working at the shop I'll travel all over the city to get what I need. There's no marine shops...or reall fish shops in Strathmore, so I head into Calgary. Great...now I want soup. Thanks Tony

Anytime !!! :lol: Happy to help.

Hey, and I'm not uttering a word of exagerration here .. I just had some at 12 and 2:30 now and I'm ready to go back. BEST PHO EVER! w00t!

agreed best soup in Calgary.
Dan and Viet are 2 of the nicest people around, and im simply ecstatic that this whole ordeal didn't stop their dream for a better life.

Time for a large bowl of satay, extra spicy.:biggrin:

I didn't read this whole thread, so pardon my ineptitude, but It's kind of shocking to think that this one incident that hit too close to for an individual is everyday life for a good portion of the human race.
Go to Africa or Columbia and the weirdest thing about people getting shot in a vietnamese restaurant is the fact that there was a vietnamese restaurant there to get shot in.

even here in Canada
I work just down the street from the downtown eastside in Vancouver, it's a reality check everytime i walk or drive through.
Sometimes I just take the long way home to witness what true disparity looks like, I've seen one guy, younger than me (I'm 26) get murdered (shot, point blank) for no reason by a guy he'd never met before.
I've seen alleyways more populated than some malls with people devoid of hope and concern for anything other than numbing it all and not shopping for material goods, but drugs.
I am by no means an activist or anything like a charitable guy, but I think that as a race, a human race, that these types of things are only going to get closer to home and we all better start to open our eyes to the problems next door and down the street if we don't want them to move in permanently.

[Heavily edited, my first attempt was a bit hasty]

I'm sorry you've yourself witnessed such terrible atrocities. That's a heavy burden to bear. I would think you as witness to such things should thus be able to empathize more than the average person with the people who were there.

Yes, it did hit close to home for me, because I had been there at this place only hours before with my young children. I am one of the naive people of the world that believes if you do good to others, hopefully less bad will be done to you. I know it really isn't that way, but you have to have a belief system of some kind. I'm sorry that I felt bad about it and felt compelled to share my grief here and that this act of posting it makes it seem like I don't care about bad things that happen elsewhere. If you knew me at all you'd know that is not the case. I know there is a lot of crime in the lower mainland too .. heck I was a victim of it myself a few years ago. Nothing as serious as witnessing a murder though.

My intent for resurrecting this thread was to let others know, as this restaurant in question has (had) a very loyal following, that they have reopened, so people can go there once again.

Peace be with you..

Five years for illegal possession of a firearm is already a law. Ever heard of anyone getting that sentence. NOPE.

Glad to hear they are back up and running. Hopefully they can put this tragedy in the past and business will boom for the people involved.

I already have a lunch plans for friday but would meet you there tomorrow for lunch to catch up on reefing and stuff

I'm down for that .. expect an email shortly :)

edited.
I now know better than to bother.

enjoy your noodles.
I'm glad your lunch routine will continue to go on.

I'm not completely sure we'll come to a position of mutual respect on this one but all my point ever really was intended as was that this was a terrible tragedy that unfolded in a family run business. If it were me who was in the kitchen that day, I might very well have just said "I'm through with this business and I'm not coming back." I doubt anyone would have blamed the couple if they chose to do that, however, they chose to look forward and reopen. I thought this was noteworthy enough to share.

If the fact that I said this hit too close to home for me, somehow reflects poorly upon me, then I guess so be it. Sorry to have offended you. Enjoy your tank and enjoy your day, go in peace. :)

I have spent some time thinking about this, because we have a favorite VN Restaurant as well, and the owners know our children, my clients, etc.

However, I really question your return there Tony . I hope you will never take your family back...:question:

Maybe it is really stupid for me to think that gangs have a favorite restaurant too?

This could just have easily happend at a moxies. If it happened there, would you ever go back to a moxies? It just happens that they went for lunch to one of the only restaurants open that day. And i'm sure it wasn't planned to go down there, im sure that is just where they ended up.

This all comes down to the fact that these gangs show absolutely no fear, and the scary thing is this whole ordeal here in calgary is becoming more like vancouver and toronto in the fact that innocent people are getting hurt. They don't give a care, they will do whatever, whenever.....wherever. Unfortunately, this kind of behavior will become more than just a random occurrence

When i lived in Toronto, i was always concerned and on guard, cause with the amount of gun violence in that city, the percent of injuries to innocent people is ridiculous. This is becoming a problem here, and now i don't feel as safe as i did, say 3 years ago here. I love my city, but unfortunately its growing with the times, but for the most part in a negative way

Be fortunate that you don't live in BC then.......... 6 or so gang related shootings within the last 2-3 weeks.

Lucky it's more in the Valley then it is to Metro Vancouver :P

Cheers,
Vic

There are a few solutions to this problem that would work if our politicians and judges would do their jobs.

One is stiffer prison sentences for gang-related violence including truth-in-sentencing laws ie. a 10 year prison sentence means you spend 10 years locked in prison. This will never happen as it is not politically correct to hold a person responsible for his crimes.

Two is legalize drugs, sell them in government liquor stores, take the profit and apply it toward our health care system. This will never happen because it would make the government look bad, even though it is the right thing to do.

Three is use civil litigation and income tax enforcement to aggressively go after all of the assets and income of organized criminals.

Four is fix our immigration system to mandate balanced and proportional immigration from various countries of the world. Ie. 5% of our immigrants come from China, 5% from Japan, 5% from India, 5% from the Netherlands, 5% from Austria etc. etc. etc. The politically incorrect truth is that gang violence is concentrated among four particular ethnic groups: East Indians in the Vancouver area, Vietnamese in Vancouver and Calgary, Jamaicans in Toronto, and white trash biker types across Canada. When we have 10 million people coming here from one single country they remain isolated in their own little communities, don't integrate, and are more likely to fall into the gang culture. In order to better assimilate immigrants into the Canadian culture we need to limit the number of people coming from any one country. As politically incorrect as this sounds, it is true.

So glad I live at least 500 clicks from anywhere interesting...:wink:

9 in 9 days as of tonight.

"More gunplay in Metro Vancouver"
http://www.theprovince.com/news/More...689/story.html