When Dan Cavalluzzi bombs around Abbotsford on his electric scooter, he’s always armed — with a hardwood club.
That’s because Abbotsford, home to the Bacon brothers and Red Scorpions gang, has earned its new title of Murder Capital of Canada.
Cavalluzzi’s not afraid to use the club. And it’s a good thing.
The retired heavy-duty mechanic has wielded it on at least one panhandler who refused to take “no” for an answer.
Cavalluzzi first moved to Abbotsford in 1947 and returned for good in 1970. The 81-year-old recalls the days when you could leave your car unlocked, even with the keys in the ignition, and there wouldn’t be any problems.
“Now if you leave your car for a half-hour, the tires are gone or the aerial is broken or the car is stolen.”
He says the place has changed for the worse.
Statistics Canada agrees. Yesterday, the federal agency reported that the metropolitan area of Abbotsford and Mission had the most homicides per capita in Canada in 2008.
There were 4.7 murders per 100,000 people, followed by Winnipeg (4.1) and Regina (3.8).
Vancouver and its suburbs were seventh highest, with 2.4 per 100,000.
“When things are distilled into a single number, it’s pretty damning,” said Abbotsford Mayor George Peary. “We’re distressed. It’s sad.”
Peary blames the numbers on gang violence and youth who get involved with drugs and weapons.
“Homicides are almost exclusively related to gang war. Rival gangs target each other and young people engage in high-risk activity,” said Peary, who insists “ordinary citizens are safe.”
“The homicides are not random. The public at large doesn’t have to worry that some stranger will walk in and shoot them.”
Peary says “help is on the way,” through provincial plans to hire 160 police as part of an anti-gang task force. Abbotsford’s police budget was boosted by almost $3 million this year.
The city’s seven murders last year provided the notoriety: five were gang-related and two were domestic disputes.
But the numbers are unlikely to improve, with six homicides already, just midway through 2009.
Abbotsford police Const. Ian MacDonald said police have arrested 22 people with gang ties this year, some high-profile members.
MacDonald said Jamie Bacon, Clayton Roueche, Cody Haevischer and Dennis Karbovanec are currently in jail and “the gangs’ hierarchy has been arrested.”
But the shootings continue to worry the community.
Last August, a gangster and a church-goer came face to face when youth worker Allan McLean received a call telling him a friend was in trouble.
An hour later, McLean had managed to calm the drunken and sobbing youth. But he was shocked when three gang members arrived carrying weapons, intent upon killing the teen.
They stopped when the Christian youth worker began to pray.
William Huntley used to be one of the people contributing to crime in Abbotsford. The 46-year-old, who has lived in Abbotsford for 30 years, admits to a criminal record that included break-and-enters and property crime.
He’s been clean for two and a half years and sees the town is troubled.
“It’s still a nice town but yeah, it’s getting a little out of hand,” said Huntley.
“A lot of it is the big drug influence. Speed [crystal meth] has hit this town really hard … I’m sure that [the murder rate] has a lot to do with the drug trade.”
Huntley also figures “affordable housing” is a factor. Like law-abiding citizens, the bad guys also find it cheaper to live in Abbotsford.
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