Police scour biker club in connection with Saint John shooting

Police have returned to the scene of a fatal Saturday night shooting in the south end of Saint John. Their investigation remains centered on the neighbourhood surrounding the Bacchus Motorcycle Club, a property well-known to the Saint John police after they conducted a raid last year that netted large quantities of alcohol and cash. They were back at the club today and continued to search inside and outside the building in connection with the weekend shooting. Police responded to a report of shots fired around 8 p.m. Saturday. When they arrived  they found the victim’s body at the corner of Pitt and Leinster Streets. The victim’s name has not been released but police say he and his attacker were known to one another.   Yesterday, police arrested 50-year-old Matthew Thomas Foley in connection with the shooting and charged him with second-degree murder. There are reports Foley is the biker club’s local president, though police say the shooting was not gang-related, but rather a dispute between two men. Some area residents say the bikers are not a problem in the area, but others say they have been a constant source of disruption. “It’s daily. We’ve had nothing but headaches,” says one area resident. “So I hope this is the mark where they are gone.” While there appears to be a difference in opinion about the presence of the clubhouse in the south end, at least one neighbour told CTV News that police should be taking more action to get the bikers out of the area.   David Hartley Brown is a community police officer in Saint John and he says police need to partner with concerned citizens. “We do our best to provide the service that we can,” he says. “We’re certainly looking for participation from the community itself and that starts with a person making that complaint. They have to be willing to come forward, talk to us about the situation.” Hartley Brown says he’s not surprised some neighbours have expressed frustration over the presence of the bikers in their community, but he says police have limited power when it comes to removing residents from their properties. Foley is due back in court next month to have a date set for a preliminary hearing.

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