Police in Surrey, B.C., are investigating whether shootings that damaged two locations of a restaurant chain early Monday morning are related to the dozens of recent violent extortion attempts in the city.
Officers responded to the report of shots fired at the Ustaad G76 Indian restaurant in the 2100 block of King George Boulevard in South Surrey at approximately 2:20 a.m.
The business was closed and no staff were present at the time of the attack, the Surrey Police Service said in a statement.
“At this time, it is being looked at as being related to possible extortions,” Surrey police spokesperson Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton told reporters at the scene Monday.
Staff at another Ustaad G76 location in Newton called police Monday afternoon to report bullet holes in the building in the 7600 block of Anvil Way, the SPS confirmed Tuesday.
Police believe the shots were fired sometime between midnight and 1 a.m. Monday, when the business was closed and there were no staff inside.
Last month, the B.C. government and the RCMP launched a new task force to investigate the rash of extortion attempts that have targeted South Asian-owned homes and businesses in recent months.
Surrey has recorded 56 reported extortion attempts in the city in 2025, including 31 cases involving gunfire, Houghton said.
Robert Ruff, who has lived near the Ustaad G76 South Surrey restaurant for about seven years, says he was startled by a loud bang in the middle of the night.
“First I thought it was a transformer that went off, because it sounds similar,” he told CTV News. “But then about five, six minutes later, I heard another one.”
“I thought it was just gangsters shooting at each other,” Ruff added. “I’m not afraid personally, but it’s still scary when it’s right at your back door.”
Authorities are asking anyone with surveillance video related to the shootings, or anyone who saw suspicious activity at either scene, to contact investigators.
With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Kaija Jussinoja
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