One man is dead following a shooting in a Vancouver café Wednesday night in what police called the latest targeted hit in a string of violent attacks in the Vancouver area.

Police say a shooting Wednesday night at an Asian café in East Vancouver looked like a targeted hit.
(Steve Lus/CBC)

The 51-year-old Richmond man, who was known to police, died in hospital Thursday morning.

Vancouver police Insp. Eric Grummisch said the shooting at a strip mall near the corner of Victoria Drive and E 33rd Avenue has all the signs of a targeted attack.

Const. Howard Chow said police only have a vague description of the suspect because only two staff members and one customer were in the restaurant when police arrived.

Police believe a number of witnesses ran away, said Chow, and police want to speak to any customers who left before police arrived.
 
"People may run because they're scared," Chow said. "They also may want to take off because they don't want to be involved, thinking that somebody else will stick around and tell the story.

Vancouver police spokesman Howard Chow says police want to speak to any customers who left the cafe before police arrived.
(CBC)

"The crucial part of it is that you may be leaving with some information that will put this all together."

The Wednesday night incident comes less than two weeks after six men, two of them bystanders, were found dead in a Surrey condominium on Oct. 19, in what police confirmed was a planned hit.

On Sept. 11, a father and son survived a targeted shooting in Langley that forced the lockdown of two area schools.

Just days before that attackers opened fire on party-goers at an upscale Vancouver restaurant on Sept. 8, injuring two, and on Aug. 9 two men died after a shooting in an East Vancouver restaurant.

With files from the Canadian Press