Tyrel Nguyen Quesnelle is charged with the fatal shooting of Randy Kang on Oct. 27, 2017. He was also charged with the first-degree murder of university student Jagvir Malhi in Abbotsford in 2018.
An alleged hitman for the Brothers Keepers gang told a former associate-turned-Crown witness that he had killed two men for cash in 2017 and 2018, a prosecutor said in his opening statement in B.C. Supreme Court on Monday.
Joe Bellows said the anticipated evidence from the witness, known only as AB due to a publication ban, will be a critical part of the Crown’s case against Tyrel Nguyen Quesnelle at his trial on two counts of first-degree murder.
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Nguyen was charged in December 2019 with the fatal shooting of Randy Kang — a well-known gangster who was shot to death in Surrey on Oct. 27, 2017. Nguyen was also charged with the first-degree murder of university student Jagvir Malhi in Abbotsford on Nov. 12, 2018, who was killed in a case of mistaken identity.
Before Bellows’ opening — which is an outline of the Crown’s anticipated case and not evidence — Nguyen stood up in courtroom 67 to plead not guilty as the charges against him were read. As well as the two murder counts, he is charged with the attempted murder of Kang’s brother Gary and associate Camilo Alonso in the 2017 shooting.
Bellows told Justice Miriam Gropper the Crown’s theory is that Randy and Gary Kang had agreed to meet some of their former Brothers Keepers associates at Bolivar Park in Surrey on the night Randy was killed. But as soon as Nguyen and another man named Rohit Kumar arrived, they opened fire at both Kangs and Alonso.
Gary Kang was hit as he ran away, but survived. Alonso also ran from the scene and escaped injury. Randy Kang was hit in the back several times. Bellows said the evidence will show that Nguyen then walked up to Randy and shot him in the back of the head as insurance.
Bellows said the Crown’s theory is that the motive for the Kang murder was both financial and personal — Nguyen was paid $100,000 at the time. A rap song Nguyen made paying tribute to slain Brothers Keepers founder Gavinder Grewal will also be part of the Crown’s case, Bellows said.
In the second murder, Malhi was driving on Ross Road in Abbotsford in the late afternoon and talking to a friend on the phone when he was rear-ended, Bellows said. Malhi told his friend he was going to exchange insurance details with the other car and hung up.
When the 19-year-old got out of his Volkswagen Jetta, he was shot to death by two gunmen, Bellows said. His insurance papers and car keys were found beside his body.
Nguyen later told AB that they were supposed to kill Malhi’s brother and that he had been paid $30,000 for the hit, Bellows said.
MORE TO COME…