DIEPPE, N.B. – There was a bloody scene following a double shooting early Wednesday morning outside a Moncton-area adult entertainment club.
Two men are in hospital -- one with serious injuries -– and the shooter is still at large.
Police spent Wednesday collecting evidence more than 12 hours after the double-shooting in the parking lot of Angie's Show Palace on Champlain Street in Dieppe, N.B.
"It's early stages in the investigation, we're still talking to many people, taking statements, trying to determine what happened and why," said Sgt. Mathieu Roy of the Codiac RCMP.
RCMP say they arrived outside the adult entertainment club just after 2 a.m. Wednesday morning to find two men, aged 32 and 25, suffering from gunshot wounds.
"One of them has serious injuries, he's still being treated, the other has since been released," Roy said.
"The shooter had left the area before police arrived."
Angie's owner Rudy Gillespie says security footage from outside of the nightclub Tuesday evening shows the man who is believed to have fired the weapon come from around the back of the parking lot, but he never enters the club.
"The good news was nothing happened inside the club, and that was my biggest concern," said Gillespie.
Gillespie says he turned over video to police, adding none of his staff or clientele were involved in the incident, and that he does not recognize the man seen in the footage.
"They're probably on to who it is and whatever, but I don't know the person personally, no," Gillespie said. "I don't have a clue."
Ashley Short lives just behind Angie's. She says she awoke to several loud bangs just after 2 a.m. Wednesday.
"Afterwards, I heard people screaming and yelling and so it was very frightening," said Short. "I was concerned for my children's safety for sure."
Despite spending the afternoon cleaning away blood from the club's front entrance, Gillespie said it will be business as usual as he plans to open the club.
"We'll talk to the staff and see if any of them are nervous about working at the club, but I don't really think so," Gillespie said. "It's a night business; people who work in this business know stuff happens."
The same can't be said for the startled neighbours.
"After the first initial bang, I heard immediately after -- with no pause -- four other loud bangs," said Short. "At first, I was like 'that's weird,' because the first bang I thought it was a car crash and then I realized, 'no that was gunshots.'"
Short says she's used to noise from the venue, but usually it's people outside carousing.
The caution tape around the scene came down early Wednesday afternoon. Police believe the shooting was not a random incident and say there is no current threat to the public.
