Two women in Langford and Colwood were shot in the face with a pellet gun roughly 10 minutes apart on Tuesday.
West Shore RCMP says they received the first call at 10:15 a.m. that a woman who had been standing on the corner of Jacklin Rd and Jenkins Ave in Langford had been shot in the face with a pellet gun.
Cst. Alex Bérubé, media spokesperson for the West Shore RCMP, said this woman took herself to the hospital after being shot in order to have the pellet removed.
“She was treated for serious but not life-threatening injuries,” Bérubé said. “She declined the ambulance at the scene and she decided to go to the hospital of her own accord. She had to have a pellet dislodged from her face.”
At 10:25, a mere five minutes later, a woman walking near the Veterans Memorial Pkwy and Latoria Rd intersection in Colwood called to report that she had also been shot in the face with a pellet gun, however, was uninjured in the incident.
Bérubé said in both of these incidents, the women didn’t realize right away what had happened.
“By the time they realized that they were just shot at with a pellet gun, the vehicle and the suspects were long gone,” Bérubé said.
The second woman provided a description of the vehicle, which was described as a grey sedan.
Police efforts to locate the vehicle were not successful.
A similar incident occurred in downtown Victoria on Sunday, according to Victoria Police.
Around 1:30 a.m., a woman was sitting in the 1700-block of Douglas Street when a vehicle stopped beside her and one of the occupants shot her in the face with a pellet gun.
Shortly after, a second woman called police to report the same thing at the corner of Douglas Street and Pandora Avenue.
The description of the suspects provided by VicPD in this incident is four Caucasian men who were in an older model grey or light-coloured four-door sedan.
Bérubé said at this point they are not ruling out that these two incidents are linked.
“What we know is that women were shot at with a pellet gun and that the suspect vehicle is described as a grey sedan,” Bérubé said. “There are a lot of similarities between these incidents, so we’re looking to speak with anyone who may have information to contact the RCMP or VicPD.”
Bérubé said none of the women in these incidents were known to each other.
Anyone with information about the West Shore RCMP incident is asked to contact the RCMP.
VicPD asks anyone with information about the Victoria incident to reach out to the VicPD Report Desk and (250) 995-7654, extension 1 or to report anonymously to call Greater Victoria Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
Laura Brougham
