BY: Kim Bolan
leaderpost.com
Key members of rival gangs hit in Sunday's daylight attack..
Three men from different gangs who were shot in Kelowna Sunday had formed a criminal alliance they dubbed the Wolf Pack, The Vancouver Sun has learned.
The loosely aligned pack consisted of Red Scorpion Jonathan Bacon, who was killed in the brazen public shooting, Hells Angel Larry Amero, who was wounded, and Independent Soldier James Riach, who police believe was also shot, but fled the crime scene.
Kelowna RCMP pledged Monday to hunt down those responsible for the gangland shooting outside the Delta Grand Okanagan Resort in the middle of a sunny afternoon.
Const. Steve Holmes confirmed what The Vancouver Sun reported Sunday - that the 30-year-old Bacon died in a hail of bullets fired at a Porsche Cayenne in which he and other gangsters were travelling.
But Holmes would not confirm that Amero, 35, or Riach, 29, were also inside the vehicle, saying only that one of the victims was a "full-patch Hells Angel from the Lower Mainland" and that another man had not been located.
The other two victims were women. One was the niece of a Metro Vancouver Hells Angel chapter president, The Sun has learned.
Holmes said all the surviving victims are expected to recover.
Supt. Pat Fogarty of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit said it would be wrong for investigators to assume that Bacon, the high-profile Abbotsford native linked to gang violence for years, was the only target of the shooters.
"In the case of this one, we can't say for sure who was the target," Fogarty said. "It is not surprising that any of the people in the car - particularly the men - would be targeted. This is not a shocker for us."
Said Holmes: "All indications lead police to believe that this incident was linked to organized crime and was targeted. The number of suspects involved in this shooting is not yet known."
Kelowna's head RCMP officer, Supt. Bill McKinnon, said experts from outside the province have been brought in to aid investigators.
And he said Kelowna is working with its policing partners across B.C. to identify suspects and head off retaliatory attacks.
"We expect that given the high profile and the very public nature of Sunday's incident that there is a heightened anxiety within the community and with the public. Our investigation is focused on finding those responsible and holding them accountable," he said.
McKinnon would not comment on whether police knew Bacon, Amero and other Metro Vancouver gangsters were in Kelowna over the weekend.
Nor would he say what intelligence police had about whether they were holding a meeting.
The fact that different gangs were together in a vehicle makes it difficult for investigators to determine if one or all of them were intended targets of the hit, Fogarty said.
Anti-gang police specialists are gathering as much information as they can about the shooting and any disputes that led up to it, he said.
The Wolf Pack alliance shows the fluidity of B.C. gangs who are constantly shifting their loyalties, police specialists told The Sun Monday.
Gang expert Const. Doug Spencer said gangsters form such alliances believing it will keep them safer.
But instead, they end up taking on the enemies of their new associates, including some they might not even know.
"They are putting themselves more at risk," said Spencer, a former Vancouver police officer who's now with the BC Transit Police.
Spencer said gang violence has been off the public radar because the number of murders is down, largely due to a series of high-profile arrests of leaders of the Red Scorpions and their rivals in the United Nations gang.
"It has been pushed back out of public view, but it is still there," he said.
He said it is hard to know whether Sunday's attack was planned or whether it was a crime of opportunity after rival gangs spotted each other in the casino.
Fogarty said the public should not be concerned about tit-for-tat retribution because police are constantly working to get ahead of plots to target rivals.
"If the public only realized how many of these we get in front of," he said. "This one slipped through the net."
He said police will do whatever they can to stem further violence, despite the drain on resources. That includes "duty to warns" - where police knock on the door of gangsters believed to be at risk and tell them someone is plotting against them.
Fogarty said there is nothing like the "fluidity of gangs and gangsters in this province."
People who are allies one day are enemies the next, he said, which is why people with three different gang tags would be riding around Kelowna together.
"This is clearly an alliance of people that we would not have seen together a couple of years ago."
Fogarty said that as soon as he heard about the shooting, he put together a provincial response plan. "We are more concerned about getting the intelligence flowing," he said. "If there is any, what kind of fallout will there be?"
He said the shooting of a full-patch Hells Angel shows that other criminals don't fear the biker gang the way they once did.
"Not that many people are afraid of them any more."
He said there are "testosterone-fuelled young bucks" out there willing to commit violent acts like Sunday's shooting.
"That is the way it is now," he said. "This is a particularly serious one - you are slapping the Hells Angels in the face."
McKinnon said police are negotiating with the B.C. government for continued funding for the 16 members of the Gang Task Force based in Kelowna.
"We are united in our efforts to keep our communities safe," he said. And he urged anyone with information about Sunday's shooting to call Kelowna RCMP or CrimeStoppers.
Police also put rumours to rest Monday that the gunmen had fled Kelowna by boat. But they are investigating the possibility that a burnt-out SUV found near Kelowna several hours after the shooting might have been used by the suspects.
McKinnon said "dozens" of officers are working on the case, though he wouldn't provide an exact number.
He said it is miraculous no bystanders were wounded or killed.
"Could innocent bystanders be injured? Absolutely. We are very fortunate that didn't happen in this case."
kbolan@vancouversun.com read The Real Scoop at vancouversun.com/bolan
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Gangster+Wolf+Pack+torn+apart+fatal+targeted+shooting+Kelowna/5260163/story.html#ixzz1VWy6KSSg
The loosely aligned pack consisted of Red Scorpion Jonathan Bacon, who was killed in the brazen public shooting, Hells Angel Larry Amero, who was wounded, and Independent Soldier James Riach, who police believe was also shot, but fled the crime scene.
Kelowna RCMP pledged Monday to hunt down those responsible for the gangland shooting outside the Delta Grand Okanagan Resort in the middle of a sunny afternoon.
Const. Steve Holmes confirmed what The Vancouver Sun reported Sunday - that the 30-year-old Bacon died in a hail of bullets fired at a Porsche Cayenne in which he and other gangsters were travelling.
But Holmes would not confirm that Amero, 35, or Riach, 29, were also inside the vehicle, saying only that one of the victims was a "full-patch Hells Angel from the Lower Mainland" and that another man had not been located.
The other two victims were women. One was the niece of a Metro Vancouver Hells Angel chapter president, The Sun has learned.
Holmes said all the surviving victims are expected to recover.
Supt. Pat Fogarty of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit said it would be wrong for investigators to assume that Bacon, the high-profile Abbotsford native linked to gang violence for years, was the only target of the shooters.
"In the case of this one, we can't say for sure who was the target," Fogarty said. "It is not surprising that any of the people in the car - particularly the men - would be targeted. This is not a shocker for us."
Said Holmes: "All indications lead police to believe that this incident was linked to organized crime and was targeted. The number of suspects involved in this shooting is not yet known."
Kelowna's head RCMP officer, Supt. Bill McKinnon, said experts from outside the province have been brought in to aid investigators.
And he said Kelowna is working with its policing partners across B.C. to identify suspects and head off retaliatory attacks.
"We expect that given the high profile and the very public nature of Sunday's incident that there is a heightened anxiety within the community and with the public. Our investigation is focused on finding those responsible and holding them accountable," he said.
McKinnon would not comment on whether police knew Bacon, Amero and other Metro Vancouver gangsters were in Kelowna over the weekend.
Nor would he say what intelligence police had about whether they were holding a meeting.
The fact that different gangs were together in a vehicle makes it difficult for investigators to determine if one or all of them were intended targets of the hit, Fogarty said.
Anti-gang police specialists are gathering as much information as they can about the shooting and any disputes that led up to it, he said.
The Wolf Pack alliance shows the fluidity of B.C. gangs who are constantly shifting their loyalties, police specialists told The Sun Monday.
Gang expert Const. Doug Spencer said gangsters form such alliances believing it will keep them safer.
But instead, they end up taking on the enemies of their new associates, including some they might not even know.
"They are putting themselves more at risk," said Spencer, a former Vancouver police officer who's now with the BC Transit Police.
Spencer said gang violence has been off the public radar because the number of murders is down, largely due to a series of high-profile arrests of leaders of the Red Scorpions and their rivals in the United Nations gang.
"It has been pushed back out of public view, but it is still there," he said.
He said it is hard to know whether Sunday's attack was planned or whether it was a crime of opportunity after rival gangs spotted each other in the casino.
Fogarty said the public should not be concerned about tit-for-tat retribution because police are constantly working to get ahead of plots to target rivals.
"If the public only realized how many of these we get in front of," he said. "This one slipped through the net."
He said police will do whatever they can to stem further violence, despite the drain on resources. That includes "duty to warns" - where police knock on the door of gangsters believed to be at risk and tell them someone is plotting against them.
Fogarty said there is nothing like the "fluidity of gangs and gangsters in this province."
People who are allies one day are enemies the next, he said, which is why people with three different gang tags would be riding around Kelowna together.
"This is clearly an alliance of people that we would not have seen together a couple of years ago."
Fogarty said that as soon as he heard about the shooting, he put together a provincial response plan. "We are more concerned about getting the intelligence flowing," he said. "If there is any, what kind of fallout will there be?"
He said the shooting of a full-patch Hells Angel shows that other criminals don't fear the biker gang the way they once did.
"Not that many people are afraid of them any more."
He said there are "testosterone-fuelled young bucks" out there willing to commit violent acts like Sunday's shooting.
"That is the way it is now," he said. "This is a particularly serious one - you are slapping the Hells Angels in the face."
McKinnon said police are negotiating with the B.C. government for continued funding for the 16 members of the Gang Task Force based in Kelowna.
"We are united in our efforts to keep our communities safe," he said. And he urged anyone with information about Sunday's shooting to call Kelowna RCMP or CrimeStoppers.
Police also put rumours to rest Monday that the gunmen had fled Kelowna by boat. But they are investigating the possibility that a burnt-out SUV found near Kelowna several hours after the shooting might have been used by the suspects.
McKinnon said "dozens" of officers are working on the case, though he wouldn't provide an exact number.
He said it is miraculous no bystanders were wounded or killed.
"Could innocent bystanders be injured? Absolutely. We are very fortunate that didn't happen in this case."
kbolan@vancouversun.com read The Real Scoop at vancouversun.com/bolan
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Gangster+Wolf+Pack+torn+apart+fatal+targeted+shooting+Kelowna/5260163/story.html#ixzz1VWy6KSSg
