Fort St. John residents voice safety concerns after shots fired through home

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Fort St. John residents living in the Triangle Park area are voicing safety concerns on social media following multiple incidents surrounding a house in the neighbourhood.

The incidents have resulted in many police reports and, most recently, shots fired into a neighbouring home.

Rick McGee, a resident of the area, has bullet holes through his house after shots were fired around 5:30 a.m. last Thursday. 

The incident led to four people being brought into the Fort St. John RCMP detachment for questioning after reports of gunfire in the area of 112th Avenue on November 2nd.

According to McGee, shots were discharged from his neighbour’s house and went through his dining room wall, hit his games cabinet and the wall above it, passed by the kitchen fridge and went through a picture frame before going into the wall behind it.

At the time of the shooting, around 5:30 a.m. last Thursday, there were eight people in McGee’s house: three adults and five kids aged 13, 11, 4, 2 and 1.

McGee shared a video on Facebook featuring audio of the gunshots from Thursday morning and a cardboard sign with the words “Shut it down” in black ink written across the top.

The sign was placed on a public fence by another resident over the weekend but was removed Monday afternoon.

McGee and his family are selling their home because they no longer feel safe and are staying with his sister in the meantime.

“We have lost faith in our laws, by-laws and our police force. We are losing faith in our city,” McGee said.  

“The big thing keeping us together is seeing our community, especially the other residents of 112th Ave, come together to try to finally be heard.”

McGee says he is devastated he and his family feel forced to leave the house he’s spent nine years raising half his family in. He says he grew up in the neighbourhood, only a block away.

“I bought that house with such joy knowing I could be raising my family in my old neighbourhood, where I grew up and had no fear,” McGee said.

“Now, knowing that this one house is ruining this experience for us, for so many in the neighbourhood, just breaks my heart.”

Fort St. John RCMP Detachment Commander Inspector Anthony Hanson says the residence in question has been an issue for a considerable amount of time, and the department has directed a significant amount of targeted enforcement to the area.

Hanson says the department has placed units in the area to conduct surveillance and suppression, including pulling over vehicles and checking individuals that come and go from the residence.

The investigations have led to several well-known offenders, Hanson said, in addition to seizing $10,000 in cash, contraband cigarettes, cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl.

“We’ve laid multiple charges against these individuals, including impaired by drug, breach of their release conditions, possession for the purpose of trafficking and driving while prohibited,” Hanson said.

When Hanson arrived in Fort St. John in 2019, he spoke with the city to adopt a nuisance property bylaw that was effective in Prince George.

“What we do is we send [the owner of the property] information when it meets the definition of causing a nuisance under the bylaw,” Hanson explained.

“This property has, and on August 14th, we sent them a letter with documentation of the number of files this property has generated over the years, including recently.”

Hanson says the local detachment will also look at potential avenues under the provincial civil forfeiture route for the property itself. A forfeiture allows the government to seize property and assets “tainted” by crime.

The inspector says in 2022, the department had received eight calls to the property and nine files were related to the property in 2023, including the proactive work officers have been doing in the area.

“It is a residence that we are called to far more often than not, and we have been directing our specific attention to it over the last five or six months,” Hanson said.

According to Ryan Harvey, communications manager for the City of Fort St. John, the city is also looking at available provincial legislation that may help in this matter on top of the already established bylaws.

“We obviously are extremely cognizant of the safety of all of our residents and want to ensure their safety is our top priority,” Harvey said.

On Tuesday morning, McGee and other residents of the area attended city hall for a meeting to discuss the house in question and the general safety of the neighbourhood. 

They also have a future meeting planned with the local RCMP.