two dead men shot in downtown Vancouver

One of two dead men shot in downtown Vancouver was well-known to police

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - Vancouver police now confirm one of the two men shot in front of a high end restaurant last night was well-known to them for criminal activity.
37-year-old Ricardo Francis Scarpino of West Vancouver was headed to Gotham Steakhouse for his own engagement party.
He was in a Land Rover targeted by the gunman along with his fiancée and two other people.
Police now confirm he, and a 38 year old West Van man who is not known to police, are the two who died after gunfire erupted shortly after 10 o'clock in the very busy intersection of Seymour and Dunsmuir.
As dozens of officers swooped down to contain the area, Constable Tim Fanning says they found more trouble at the restaurant.
"There were two men trying to exit. As they (police) stopped them, one of the men dropped a semiautomatic handgun which fell onto the ground," says Fanning.
He also had cocaine with him, and is facing weapons and drug charges.
The group appears to have booked a private party room at the restaurant, and Fanning is unable to say whether this is one of the places being regularly checked by the Violence Suppression Team, which was highly publicized at its creation as a force that would harass gangsters wherever they could be found.
More than 200 witnesses have been questioned, although no suspect descriptions are being released yet.
Ricardo Scarpino has had a number of brushes with the law.
He was convicted of running a cocaine ring on Vancouver Island, but appealed and the charges were overturned.
He also worked as a bounty hunter in California back in 1993.
That's where he was involved with authorities when he shot a man sitting across the table from him in a mall restaurant eight times.
Although he was wearing a bulletproof vest during the shooting, the case was determined to be a case of self-defense and he got 27 months behind bars on weapons charges.