2 men convicted of murder in Cambie Street halfway house shooting
Rajinder Soomel was killed in what police believe was a case of mistaken identity
Two men have been convicted of first degree murder in the September 2009 slaying of Rajinder Soomel.
35-year-old Kevin Jones of Vancouver and 32-year-old Colin Stewart of Surrey were convicted by a jury Monday and sentenced to life in prison with no parole eligibility for 25 years.
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Soomel was gunned down near Cambie Street and West 19th Avenue in what police have always maintained was a case of mistaken identity. He was left for dead in the middle of the road.
He was living in a halfway house in the neighbourhood, having been released on parole the previous August. He had been convicted of plotting to kill a man who implicated his younger brother in the murder of Indo-Canadian Times founder Tara Singh Hayer in 1998.
Upon Soomel's release, the parole board said the threat of his being killed was very real, and his presence compromised the safety of the community because of the possibility of violent retribution.
The man Jones and Stewart are believed to have been planning to kill the night Soomel died, Randy Naiker, was informed by police at the time that his life might be in danger.
Naiker was killed in Port Moody on June 25, 2012.