Gang war prompts vigilance: Winnipeg police chief

Winnipeg Police Chief Keith McCaskill says he is very concerned about a gang war that is being blamed for recent shootings in which two people were wounded.

Police are practicing zero tolerance with known gang members, McCaskill said, and any infraction no matter how minor will prompt immediate police response. Additional police resources are being added to the organized crime unit, he said Wednesday.

McCaskill said he would not discuss police tactics but he said members of the street crimes and organized crime units are monitoring the gangs very closely. The Rock Machine and a puppet club of the Hells Angels the Redlined Support Crew are believed to be behind a number of recent shootings. In one incident last Monday in Winnipeg's Lord Roberts neighbourhood, an innocent bystander, a14-year-old boy, was shot.

McCaskill said in the past few years police have put many gang members in jail, presenting an opportunity for others to try to replace them.

"Sometimes there's a void," he said. "And you've got different groups now vying for territory and other things. We have to do everything as an organization to stop this because it's a dangerous situation."

McCaskill says Winnipeg is by and large a very safe city but the organized crime gangs are a blight that won't be tolerated.