Drug war triggers gun violence in Prince George, B.C.

Officials are blaming a drug warfor a spate of gun violence in Prince George.

Over just 7 days, there havebeen fourdrive-by shootings, an arson attackandthe shooting of a woman who police later found in a driveway.

Another crime,in which a man on a bicycle shot a stranger with a handgun last weekdoes not appear to be connected to the others, according to RCMP.

Last week, police said there was no evidence that any of the crimes were linked.

But now, RCMP Cpl Craig Douglasssays most of the violence comes from"two rival groups involved in the drug trade."

Most of the shots have been fired in the VLA neighbourhood, whereKitty Mueller has lived for 42 years.

"It's very disturbing how the violence has just skyrocketed," said Mueller. "Italk to single parents living around me. They worry abouttheir kids even just playing in front of their house."

Police say the first drive-by shootingtargeted a family home with three kids inside.

Mayor Lynn Hall said he'sconcerned for public safety.

"...with those incidents occurring just within a week ...it's extremely discouraging and very unsettling," Hall said.

"We haven't seen this kind of thing in PrinceGeorge in quite some time," he said. "We worked very hard to get off the Maclean's ranking a number of years ago which was number one for crime in the country."

Starting in 2011, Maclean's Magazinedeclared Prince George "Canada's most dangerous city" for three years in a row. The magazine stated that gangwars and drug abuse were partly to blame.