PORT MOODY - A third fatal shooting in less than four months was the breaking point for some Port Moody residents, who showed up at City Hall Monday night looking for answers and reassurance their community is safe.

About 50 people filed into City Hall for an impromptu forum to discuss the most recent gang-related shooting, with the mayor and members of both the Port Moody and Vancouver police departments answering questions from concerned citizens.

They were residents like Tony McCloskey, who for a while lived just one floor below an infamous Bacon brother in an apartment building.

The long-time Port Moody resident said he has always felt safe in the city, but the forum gave him a measure of reassurance.

"What can you do?" he asked in regard to the targeted shootings between gangs.

Life means nothing [to them]."

"When I grew up here, we never thought of locking the door. You knew all your neighbours."

Ironically, the 83-year-old said he felt safe even with a known gangster living so close, because there was so much police attention paid to his building.

The forum came about following the daylight shooting of a Port Moody man known to police in the Glenayre neighbourhood.

It was originally billed as a rally, set up by a group called Port Moody Families Against Violence.

Brent Dozzi was busy putting up flyers Sunday in support of a friend who started the group.

He said his concern originated with the first shooting in May, which happened after the victim was exiting his car to play ball hockey at the Port Moody Recreational Complex.

Dozzi said his children were at the centre just before the fatal shooting.

"I was just alarmed at the brazenness and disregard for the safety of others," he said.

"It's just a matter of time before a stray bullet hits somebody else."

Before the rally, city officials decided to open up the Inlet Theatre at City Hall.

Nikki Bryson, another resident, said she was inspired to come to the forum after a nine-year-old showed up at her doorstep on the weekend with a flyer for the rally.

"The idyllic community has been shattered," she told the five-member panel of police members and the mayor.

She asked how the community could deal with the issue and what steps can be taken to let gangs know they're not welcome in Port Moody.

VPD Insp. Brad Desmarais told the forum the most effective form of prevention is for parents to keep tabs on their children's activities, and for residents to report any suspicious activity in their neighbourhood, no matter how big or small.

When asked why gangsters are choosing Port Moody as a place to take out rivals, Desmarais suggested that, at least in the first two shootings, it could happen in any Lower Mainland city.

"We have absolutely no evidence that they chose Port Moody specifically to conduct these executions," he said, adding the targets didn't live or hang out in the city.

Port Moody police deputy chief Const. Chris Rattenbury told residents the department has a gang action plan to deal with local issues, including a crime analyst and bar-watch program.

"We do everything to stop this gang problem," he said, suggesting the city might hold a more organized forum in the future to discuss the issue.

Mayor Mike Clay pointed out the city has looked at several changes to the recreation centre in the wake of the first shooting, including adding surveillance cameras and changing the design of the parking lot to make it less attractive to commit crimes in.

The mayor said he believes Port Moody is still a safe place to live, but acknowledged the shootings have given the city a black eye.

"Sadly, I couldn't walk out of here tonight and say to anybody, 'Don't worry, it's never going to happen again,'" he said.

However, Clay said he sensed the forum did provide residents with information they previously didn't have.

Port Moody-Coquitlam MLA Joe Trasolini was also on hand for the forum.

He suggested the province needs to address the root causes of gang activity, specifically the way in which gangs recruit.

Trasolini, who was mayor of the city for more than a decade, said young people need positive activities so they can't be lured into gangs.

He credited the work of the Port Moody police, maintaining no city is immune to the problem, but argued the province needs to provide more funding and personnel to help fight gangs.

"You really have to address and focus on the gang activity in the entire Lower Mainland, if not the province," Trasolini said.

The latest shooting occurred Saturday. Port Moody police were called to a home in the 900 Block of Wallace Wynd in the Glenayre area just after 10 a.m. to a report of shots fired.

A 32-year-old man who had been shot was rushed to hospital, but died a couple of hours later.

On Monday, the VPD, which is handling the investigation, identified the victim as Joseph Allan Markel of Port Moody.

He is believed to be an associate of the Dhak-Duhre gang.

Investigators said the victim is "well-known" to police, but wouldn't confirm whether he was involved in gangs.

Police also wouldn't say whether the man was shot inside or outside the home.

On June 25, gangster Randy Naicker was gunned down on busy Queens Street during rush hour.

Naicker was the founder of the Independent Soldiers and had a criminal past. In May, another gangster, Gurbinder Singh Toor, was gunned down in the parking lot of the Port Moody Recreation Complex.

Both of those murders remained unsolved.