Six years after 15-year-old Alfred Wong was killed by a stray bullet while riding in his parents’ car on a busy Vancouver street, the man accused of firing the gun is facing trial.
Kane Carter has pleaded not guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Wong and another man in the Jan. 13, 2018 shooting.
The Coquitlam teen and his parents were driving along Broadway at Ontario Street when he was caught in the gangland crossfire.
“He was struck by a single bullet which entered the right side of his chest and did not exit his body,” Crown prosecutor Don Montrichard told the court in his opening arguments.
“That bullet struck several of Alfred Wong’s major internal organs and as a result of the injuries he almost immediately lost consciousness.”
The court heard that the teen cried out before he collapsed, a moment captured on dash camera video the prosecution said the jury will see later in the trial.
Wong died two days later, but it would be another four years before Carter was charged.
On Monday, the 28-year-old entered the B.C. Supreme Court room in Vancouver using a walker.
Justice Catherine Wedge warned the jury to be aware of potential unconscious biases and not to jump to conclusions because the accused is a Black man.
Carter has also pleaded not guilty to murdering Kevin Whiteside, 23, who police allege was in Vancouver to kill rival gangster Matthew Navas-Rivas when he was shot dead himself. Navas-Rivas was shot dead months later in East Vancouver.
Carter also pleaded not guilty Monday to aggravated assault in connection with a third victim, Shaiful Khondoker, who is slated to testify in the trial.
The case will hinge on the Crown’s ability to prove the shooter’s identity.
The jury is slated to hear from roughly 50 witnesses along with video and photo evidence, but prosecutors acknowledge that their case is almost entirely circumstantial and that they won’t try and prove motive.
No witnesses saw or security video recorded who pulled the trigger, and the murder weapon was never recovered.
The trial is slated to end in late November.
— with files from Rumina Daya