British Columbia

Police identify father killed alongside son in Richmond, B.C., double homicide

RCMP in Metro Vancouver have identified one of the victims in the double homicide of a father and his 13-year-old son at their home in Richmond, B.C., on Nov. 30.

Investigators look for suspect seen leaving home where Derrek Chen and 13-year-old were killed

Homicide victim Derrek Chen is shown in a family photo. He's a smiling East Asian man wearing a dark Puma long-sleeved t-shirts.
Derrek Chen, 46, and his 13-year-old son were killed inside their home in Richmond, B.C., police say. (Submitted by the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team)

RCMP in Metro Vancouver have identified one of the victims in the double homicide of a father and his 13-year-old son at their home in Richmond, B.C., in late November.

Sgt. Timothy Pierotti with the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team said 46-year-old Derrek Chen was killed along with his son, who police are not identifying.

Pierotti said police are working to determine a motive for the killings that are believed to have been targeted, and they're asking anyone who knew Chen to call them.

Pierotti said investigators are also trying to identify the person captured on video leaving the victims' home at about 8:40 p.m. on Nov. 30, the day of the killings.

The footage shows the suspect was wearing a dark coat, a white hat, light blue jeans and a dark-coloured balaclava-style face mask, he said.

Pierotti released two blurry photos of the suspect following a news conference held at the entrance to a playground adjacent to the victims' home on Goldsmith Drive.

He said the suspect headed straight toward the London Fields area after leaving the scene, and police are asking anyone who was in the area to contact them.

Two blurry images taken from surveillance footage show a person wearing a dark jacket and a white cap.
The RCMP released two surveillance photos of a suspect in the double homicide of a father and son in Richmond, B.C., on Nov. 30. (Submitted by the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team)

"We are looking to speak with absolutely everyone who was in that park. There's a family right now that is going through the unimaginable," Pierotti told media.

He said investigators have done a "thorough canvass" of the area, looking for witnesses and residential security cameras as well as dash camera footage.

The father and son, who were not known to police, were alone in the home at the time of the killings, Pierotti told an earlier news conference.

Other family members were in the home in the hours prior to the killings, but were not at the home when they occurred, he said.

"I believe it was a family member who did call 911," Pierotti said.