Apt. 1505 - that butchery on the 15th Floor

Who says people don't read newspapers any more? Here in Vancouver several social "types" actively read and clip stories from THE SUN and THE PROVINCE - but today it's the criminals who are in the spotlight. Do you recall that last Wednesday (October 17th) STATISTICS CANADA released its corrected analysis of figures for homicides recorded in Canada during 2005? You can find the report, with charts and graphs here. The stats in the report support a claim that "murder" in Canada is down. Maybe. I guess it's fortunate for many that the emergency responders are so proficient at their jobs. Plugging holes and pumping in fluids seems to save plenty of targeted victims. But why the urgency in trying to assure us that unlawful killing is in decline? Remember that in Canada three cardinal institutions lie, and they are accomplices... politicians, lawyers and statistics.

You probably read the story on Thursday (October 18th). According to the Stats Canada handout there were 108 murders in B.C. in 2006, and an average of 104 murders in B.C. for each of the preceding ten years. So officially there were about 1050 "murders" in B.C. in the past ten years. So I won't carp and suggest that a lot of violent deaths here are mislabled and do not lead to charges. That would imply that I am unhappy with the administration of justice. What I am happy about is that the gangsters do to themselves... ie. administer justice, which the legal system has not been able to accomplish since the 1960s.

Now getting back to my point. A few local gangsters seem to have read their newspaper on Thursday and said "Oh Ho, things are too quiet man!" The next day the sassy readers visited Apt. 1505 , (Balmoral Tower) at 9830 East Whalley Ring Road, Surrey, and executed six men with gunshots to the head. Four of the men were participants in the drug trade but two innocents were caught up in the attack and that is sparking outrage. Likely they fell victim to blood lust (a jacked up gunmen with a full magazine of cartridges, whose mission is to wipe out an entire crew) because there is no particular need to kill witnesses hereabouts. A senior RCMP drug investigator recently told me in private conversation that these shooters are not in the least intimidated by Mounties on their trail or by the possibility of prosecution.

One of the six bodies brought down from 15th floor suite in the Balmoral Tower block in Surrey, B.C.

The last execution of a murderer in Canada took place in 1962. To remove the possibility that public outcry might restore the hangman, in 1976 Capital Punishment was torn out of our Criminal Code. By my rough calculation, there are now about 36,000 released or paroled murderers living in Canada. Every major city now has a resident population of a few thousand released murderes, but our experts tell us that there is very little likelihood that those men and women will kill again. What we might fear, they admit, is the rise of the new gunfighters - reckless street thugs who have demonstrated an appetite for killing their opponents - often in drive-by's or attacks in nightclubs or restaurants. What the experts will never admit is that the new breed of urban outlaws are emboldened by the lack of a death sentence. The only thing they have to fear is retaliation from a rival gang. I for one hope that a couple of outlaws are loading their "nines" and they get to the Balmoral Towers killers before the Red Horsemen do. That my friends IS justice.

Update: October 24 - the names of the four criminals murdered last week are Edward Sousakhone (Eddie) Narong, age 22, Corey Jason Michael Lal, age 21, Michael Justin Lal, age 26, and Ryan Bartolomeo, age 19. All were part of the same street crew and all had prior arrests for weapons and drugs offences. All were caught repeatedly by law enforcement technicians but then released back into the criminal stream. (Am I the only person sick of the cutesy-bootsy phrase "They were known to police." ?) Why weren't their names on the Internet so that owners and tenants at Balmoral Tower might detect their presence and take precautionary measures? (Police have revealed that the LAL Crew were all tenants of Apartment 1505, and the registered owner of the condo is not cooperating with the investigation.)

Here's the amusing news, from THE SUN today. Saturation media coverage of the execution-murders has forced B.C.'s Solicitor-General John Les to make a statement. He (natch!) called for tougher penalties for Balmoral-type mass killings. "There are not adequate provisions in the Criminal Code to deal with multiple murders." The B.C. Liberal government is not going to do a thing to stop these killings, but they will spend more money and talk it up. Likewise the Federal Tory government is going to talk it up, but I notice in Montreal's The Gazette today that Amnesty International is crowing success at the U.N., predicting that Canada will climb onboard a European proposal for a worldwide ban on Capital Punishment. ... The message to our local gang bangers? "Have at 'em boys, but for Gawd sakes no collateral damage. It doesn't play well with the voters."

Update Jan. 22/08: According to reports in the SUN, four of the six slain were members of the "Independent Soldiers," drug gang. Two of the dead were innocent bystanders shot to prevent them from becoming witnesses.
Recorded as "the largest gang slaying in B.C. history," police believe it was "in retaliation for the murder nine days earlier of drug dealer Dylan Becker, who subcontracted his meth-cooking skills to a biker gang.
Becker was shot in the parking lot of a Scott Road McDonald's, only to die as his friend raced him to Surrey Memorial Hospital."

Update June 6, 2008 Kim Bolan researched and wrote a fascinating backgrounder to the Apt. 1505 murders. "Shocking story behind six murders in a Surrey tower". It was published in the Vancouver Sun on May 30th. It drew a massive response from readers, some of whom supported the victims who had extensive criminal backgrounds. Others attacked the messenger, calling Ms. Bolan names and ridiculing her credentials. (If the link becomes broken search Google cache.)

Bolan researched the ownership of the condo, No. 1505, Balmoral Tower:
"Suite 1505 is owned by real estate agent Ceasar Tiojanco and his wife, Myrna. They bought the apartment in 2003 for $82,000. Land title records show the couple own six other properties across Metro Vancouver with an assessed 2008 value of almost $2.8 million. easar Tiojanco,
There had been no complaints made about suspicious activity in 1505, according to Janice Abbott, head of the Atira Property Management, which has run the building since December 2006."