Vancouver police have issued a news release highlighting "deteriorating public safety in Oppenheimer Park" following a shooting on a nearby street.

A 53-year-old woman from Powell River is in hospital with serious but not life-threatening injuries.

The gunfire occurred on Dunlevy Avenue when she was stopped in a vehicle around 3:30 p.m. on Saturday (October 26). She had been in the park visiting a man living in the park.

Vancouver police say they're "concerned by a significant increase in weapons, violence, and calls for service to Oppenheimer and the surrounding area, as gangs compete for territory around the park".

A gang war linked to the Downtown Eastside drug trade led to the arrests of three people earlier this month.

Last month, a resident of the homeless camp, Chrissy Brett, told the Straight that police have been citing criminal acts in the neighbourhood in statistics related to the tent city.

She said at the time that if there are crimes in Surrey, police don't blame everyone in the neighbourhood. Yet she claimed that's the effect on homeless residents when police link nearby criminal acts to the camp.